Mín Englisc Blog

Back from visiting Grandmother — she got out of the hospital today and into a new room. As always, good to see her and to see others in my father's family; a pity we can't be down there more often to help, since distance means that some of Dad's family has to shoulder a heavier burden than we.

Just in from the University of Pittsburgh — I've been accepted to their grad program in library and information science :-D

Back to Belle Center after visiting Beaver Falls; my time at the Clinic went quite well, and we're definitely encouraged. I stayed with Isaac last night; his roommate was out, so I got to sleep in a bed. Interesting milestone — it was the first time since the seizures that I slept on the top bunk of bunk beds, since I wasn't allowed to be on top of bunk beds after the seizures, and last year after surgery, my ceiling was low enough that I couldn't stand up fully at my end of the room.
This morning, Isaac and I both went to Don Cox's funeral. I was glad to learn more of this man whom I'd known for a few years — I knew one part of his life quite well, but of course it was a very tiny part of his life. I had hoped to see other parts of Beaver County today, but that can be done at other times, and I didn't want to miss Don's funeral.
Even at this time of year, Beaver County is beautiful. I remember once reading a circa-1900 history of Geneva College that described the beauty of the Beaver Valley; this was early in my time at Geneva, and I remember scoffing at the idea that it was beautiful. No more. Perhaps it's a matter of love — as with so much else, as you love something or someone more and more, the object of your love becomes more and more beautiful. I'll close with two of my favorite Beaver County photos — one of the countryside, and one of an example of the county's many historic sites.

Today, it's off to Cleveland for a neurologist's appointment, followed by a visit to Beaver Falls tomorrow. I'd hoped to see other parts of Beaver County while others were busy tomorrow, but I've learned that the funeral for Don Cox is tomorrow morning: I'd really rather not miss that.

I had quite the unpleasant surprise today — an email from Geneva informed me of the death of Don Cox, who worked evenings at the Brig at Geneva. As an employee of the Brig, I saw a good deal of Don, who sat at the exit to run the cash register: it was a simple enough job that he was able to relax, chat with the other employees, jokingly chastise customers, and even watch television while fulfilling his tasks as effectively and quickly as necessary. Don was always quite the character, helping whenever he could see that help was needed, but rarely missing the opportunity for a little fun when it wouldn't hurt. My funniest memory of him was perhaps in the first semester of my senior year (my final semester of consistent work at the Brig), when it was time to refill the ice bin in the drink machine: while he was dumping buckets of ice into the bin, I took the scoop from the ice machine in the back to add a little more ice and to see what he'd do, and when he returned to the ice machine, his voice loudly proclaimed his confusion at its absence :-) I hadn't seen him since graduation — the times that I've been in at the Brig since last May have all been during the day — but I'll still miss his presence somewhat.

Today, Friday the 15th, is the deadline for the submission of applications to both Indiana University and the University of Pittsburgh. I'm so thankful that I got them done last month, and that I'm not scrambling around today trying to write up everything!

Back from Colorado as of 1½ weeks ago; the trip went well, but I've been busy enough since then that I've not gotten around to posting. Isaac is now back at school, beginning his first classes today; it was good having him home for a few weeks, even though I was gone for nine days of that time.
This weekend, I'm to be gone again at the College Winter Conference near Peru, Indiana — not sure what the place is like, since this will be my first time at the new conference center. I hope that it's less cramped than the old facility, but I know not to bother hoping that the view will be as nice as the last conference I attended: there's nowhere in Indiana that can compare to the Front Range at Denver :-)