It's been a spring

To get straight to the point: Here I am! Still alive! With all ten of my fingers still intact, although you wouldn't know it from my minimal internet presence.

To get to the point the long way around: It's been quite a spring. Here's the bullet points version, because believe it or not, even "the long way around" is still the abridged version of Events I've Been Distracted By.

• My brother, who is a junior in high school, recently found out (along with students at 12 other archdiocesan schools) that when his high school closes at the end of the school year, it will not reopen in the fall. This is a huge blow for everyone--students past and present, teachers, parents, and staff--and my feelings about the matter are as complicated as the situation itself, but I think I'm justified in saying that this is a terribly unfair situation for him and his fellow students--the juniors especially. Their peers are looking at colleges. They're looking at high schools and colleges.
• My paternal grandfather passed away a few weeks ago. This was hard for all of us, as he was my last remaining grandparent, but I think the hardest part of all was admitting that it was time to let go: he had been in a slow decline for the past year and I think he was ready to go home. Still, the space between knowing that it's time and accepting that it's time can be difficult to navigate.
• My dad started a new job in New Jersey (speaking of long stories...), so he's now Monday through Friday there and weekends here in Maryland. The deep, deep irony of this situation is that the entire reason that my parents were willing to consider this inconvenient alternative to moving is that they didn't want to disrupt my brother's final year and a half of high school.
• And, to top it all off... James and I are engaged! Yes, after all that, something good did happen this spring. I have talked a lot of smack about Other People's Weddings over the past few years, so now I guess it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is and do this up right. So far my opinions about weddings haven't changed much, and yes, I can still use the phrase Wedding Industrial Complex with a straight face, so we'll see how it goes. My attitude remains what it always has been: if, at the end of the day, I'm married to my best friend with our family and friends around us, then a successful wedding took place. That's what I'm most excited about.

And that's where I've been for the past month and a half. How about you?

Singing along to: Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, "Two of Us"