Arrival

I left my office to 'go to the corner' (bathroom) and upon re-entering my building, was surprised by the immediate, noticeable 'silence' upon my entry.  Thought 'what's up with that' and headed into my office and SURPRISE!  There was B.!  I hadn't seen him last night so the 'he's home first hug' was in my office and was as awesome as usual.  He asked if he could take me to lunch and I pointed out it was 10:30AM - so he said 'Brunch?'.  I hesitated but my entire office team said 'GO!' - so off we went.  "Our place" (Perko's) and had a very nice brunch with great conversation.  He's got a lot of plan in his (not quite a) month home but we'll see him a fair amount which is great -

H. failed math AGAIN so he headed to the first day of Summer session prepared to add that class back.  The college automatically cancelled him from his previously scheduled Summer class because he failed the pre-requisite for it - so he added it back and is taking it for the third time.  Might even be the fourth.  Not sure.  I've lost track.

My very wise cousin - who is also a teacher - mentioned that she had struggles with Math, too, but it improved when she focused on mastering some basics.  So we're going to work on that.

I know it's not that H. isn't trying - his other grades were very good - so it's clear he's doing the work...but I do think he doesn't put in nearly enough effort on the subject he knows is the hardest. The school offers plenty of free tutoring and help - and it's likely just a matter of putting in many hours of study and practice.  H. hasn't really been studying that much lately - he's out a lot (including all night a lot) and then sleeps most of the day - so not exactly burning the midnight oil - or any oil - attempting to work hard at the subject.

I am irritated.  I know I shouldn't be - but I am.  He's 23 years old and it feels like we're doing everything we can to support him through a hard time - but it's starting to feel like it was a couple years ago - we're being taken advantage of.

We are worried about him - he's having a lot of anxiety issues and depression - and still struggling to gain weight.  But in the light of his math grade, I think he is self inflicting a lot of anxiety on himself 'cuz he knows he's not doing well, denies it (to me, to himself, to J.) and then frets about it constantly.  Bad combination.

I got quite a bit of board prep done today and am hoping (maybe - long shot but maybe) I might be able to be off on Friday.  I would really like to be off for even 1/2 day if possible -

J.'s brother is arriving later this evening for the night - he has an appointment at Stanford.  Personally, I don't see the point of driving here (2.5 hours from his home) and then driving 3 hours minimum in rush hour traffic tomorrow to get there by his appointment time - when he could drive from home to Stanford in 3.5ish hours - but whatever.  He's arriving late and leaving early which is OK since I'm not a huge fan of work night guests.  It makes absolutely no sense but oh well.  Making sense isn't a criteria, apparently.

The wind is wicked this past week - blowing so dang much, it's insane.  The neighbors fruit trees are covering the grass with leaves and debris.  J. and H. swept and raked this morning but when I arrived home, it looked like they'd never touched the lawn.  It's just such a mess.  When the neighbors moved in, they mentioned they hoped to eventually remove the trees but it was a budget thing at the time.

The neighbors on the front (other side) took out a HUGE redwood tree today - it never should have been planted there - it was truly forest size and had no business being in a residential neighborhood. It greatly changed the look of the front yard - our flower beds are no longer shaded...we'll have to see how the plants hold up in full sun for part of the day.

Time to get ready to head upstairs for the night.