weekly update

As I continue to marathon through this new here-and-there life, it's nice to pause and write a blog entry once in a while. No, really, I could do better than once a week. But just wait until there are monitoring appointments and medications. I'll be a stellar blogger poster, then. (promises, promises).

I have just finished my lovely fungi/lichen infusion and thought I'd take a moment before bed to check-in with you and update on the latest.

The appointment with the lawyer last Friday went fine. He wasn't as much of a dick as I thought he would be. I have nothing against lawyers. It's just that Mr. August's phone interaction with him to set up the appointment was not promising at all. It reminded me that setting expectations low often leads to being pleasantly surprised. Mr. lawyer had no big revelation for us, but it was good to review some potential scenarios and talk about the Human Assisted Reproductive Act and discuss civil law. All that was missing was the Gre.y Pou.pon.

We drafted an informal contract with Sattva and established a protocol to reimburse her for her wages lost and to pay her expenses. It feels good to set that up and start paying her for something! We can't pay her for her eggs, but we are allowed to compensate her for expenses incurred as a result of this process. Sattva and I have had some good conversations and I feel like we are in a good spot. We've also decided to talk about it with folks around us we feel like telling. This weekend, I'm having lunch with good friends from grad school. They know about the egg donation, but I haven't told them who is the donor. Sattva is coming to this lunch as well, so it will be an interesting way to reveal it. I think I'll let her tell them what she'll be up to in the next few months and watch their faces as they piece it together. Donor & recipient, sharing fries with friends at the French bistro.

Life with the plastic plants is settling down (I'm still giggling at the fact that Pumpkin thought it was plastic pants). The other boarder is moving out and a new boarder is coming next week, but she will very rarely overlap with when I'm there. So it's basically just me and the owner, who is a very nice woman. I think I can stick this out, folks. I still find Sunday evenings and Mondays very tough, but I'm ok for the rest of the week usually.

And my job is just so cool. It really is. It's completely exhausting and overwhelming, but I sincerely love it. The complexity of it keeps me constantly on my toes. I just need to learn to pace myself. As it is, I just stay late every night to finish reports and that's really going to empty the gas tank fast. The cases are very interesting, and the people I work with as great. Some of the unit staff (front line workers with our patients) have been especially sweet. They keep wanting me to apply for a permanent psychologist position that just opened so that I can stay and keep working with them. How's that for a welcome. Many other people have been so supportive thus far. This week, the psychiatrist told me with all his sincerity that I was doing a "great job". That was so nice to hear. Psychiatrist-psychologist relationships are not always smooth, historically speaking. But I can't get over how much I like working with the one on my team. He is just so awesome.

So for all the drawbacks of living a life split between here and there, and being away from Mr. August and Chicken, it feels like I am indeed reaping the rewards of a very meaningful professional experience. If I want to be coherent tomorrow for my meaningful experience, I better head to bed.

Thank you for your great comments. I don't say enough how much they mean to me. I feel very supported in this community because of you.