Thank you, Grampa.

Ok. At an hour-and-a-half before the cut-off time, I have completed my first assignment for my first term back in school. And, I think I kicked butt. I think. The assignment itself was easy, but the first assignment of the term usually is. This one seemed simpler than most.

Should I worry, then, that maybe I missed something important, and did not in fact kick butt?

Nah. I'm pretty sure I nailed what I needed to.

Getting back into the groove of school, I am very very glad I'm only taking one class per term. Although the subject seems pretty simple so far, it's still a challenge just with all the reading I need to do. This is the first class I've had that has two textbooks; all the others just had one. The reading assignment for this first phase (which has only two assignments - one week's worth) was six chapters total. With reading all day Saturday, my only interruptions being taking two breaks to put away clothes and wash dishes, I got through four. That's all day reading. And I'm a reader - I can zoom through an 800-page novel in a day, given the chance (and I have, when I had the chance).

This is tough. This reading is not fun, it's not particularly interesting (although not totally boring either). It is very dry, straightforward and uninspired. I find myself sort of zoning out and then having to go back and reread passages, so that although with all the various charts and such it's really not that much to read, it takes me hours.

So. Glad. I'm. Only. Taking. One. Class.

I will be far less stressed now with the lighter load, and with everything that's going on right now - especially with Matt's shoulder injury - that is more terribly important than I an reasonably express. Further, it will give me more time to do other things, like walking in the mornings with Mama Wren, and taking Tai Chi classes Wednesday evenings (Mama and I are starting that when the next class begins in July). I'll be able to spend time with Matt, with Goblin and Sister, with books, and with artwork.

As things slow down elsewhere in my life, school will become just one more part of the routine, and a calm will settle again. I'm looking forward to that.

This being Memorial Day, I find myself wishing my grandfather - a vet - were still alive so he could see how well I've done and am doing in school. He died before I decided to go back to school; the last thing he know on the subject was of my adamance against further college. He must have been disappointed on that score, but he never pushed me on it. Maybe he knew I'd change my mind one day.

I want to tell him thank you for setting up the fund that made college a possibility for me. I want to thank him for letting me decide when to finally put it to use, and for having the faith in me that although I may do things more slowly - like taking it one class at a time now - I will get them done, and done well if I have any say in the matter.

I can only thank the wind, and hope that if there's a somewhere, he'll hear it.

There is a cemetery just up the road I live on. I wonder if there are any veterans buried there, or just gold miners and gold theives. I should have visited it today - seen if any flags or flowers were there to say thank you to someone long gone. It's too late and too dark tonight, but maybe I'll stop by there tomorrow and talk to the wind.