Scheduling Stress

The last week was extremely stressful, rewarding and tumultuous. 

Lets start with the rewarding aspects shall we? (Its like eating your dessert before your least favorite food) 

I am loving my new jobs as both a babysitter and a part-time nanny. The youngest of the children I am watching M, is completely precious. We watched lots of 'Baby Signing Time' videos (I've memorized all the songs already....) and eventually we snuggled on the couch watching Finding Nemo. Babysitting for M tomorrow night, handful, but what a sweet baby. The other family I am working for is entirely delightful. They have twins and an older daughter all under 5 years old. They are slowly getting used to me, and I to them. Its a challenge juggling three young children, but its completely worth it when they say cute things to me, or are sad when its time for me to leave! 

Also extremely rewarding is getting to see friends that I missed all summer! 

Lets move on to the stressful..... the celery of my life. 

The way the Sarah Lawrence system of class sign ups works is very complicated and really hard to explain. In the most simple form, you interview with professors whose classes you are interested in, and then you sign up for up to three of those classes (more if you opt to take a 'third') and then wait about 48 hours to find out if you actually got in to the classes you wanted. If you didn't (this is called getting bumped) you have to do the same process, really quickly, all over again. 

As I am sure you have surmised by now, I got BUMPED again this year. From not one, but two classes. Obviously upset, my saturday morning and early afternoon was pretty stressful, traumatic and aggravating. (I have now ended up in a course examining the historical evolution of psychological thought, and a course examining plays... I do love my college in the end) 

On the tumultuous side, trying to figure out how my schedule is going to work, how I am going to juggle my class load, my childcare jobs, my work as a tour guide, a few extracurriculars, and maybe even a 'smidge' of a social life....is nothing if not exhausting already. But on the flip side, I am happiest when I am busier! The key to juggling all of this, is getting enough sleep, eating right, taking care of myself, and being diligent about taking care of my Fibromyalgia symptoms. 

Even though it was a stressful week, I am so extremely excited to be beginning my second year of classes, and this newest chapter of my life! 

Sour Lemonade

I am back! So happy and thrilled to be back at my second home, Sarah Lawrence!
I set out a week ago (time flies by!) on thursday night with my mom, and we stayed at a friends home in western new york, before making the long, long drive to Bronxville/Yonkers. We pulled into the college just before 5, and started unloading my stuff.
I am living in a really nice single in Dudley Lawrence this year. Dudley Lawrence is one of the old dorms ,and it was named after Sarah Lawrence's son, Dudley. I am living in a corner room, which is really lovely, except for the GIANT radiator and the funny wall that juts out so that there is no good place to put the bed.... a fun discovery after a long car trip.... I am sharing my adjoining bathroom with my good friend, and fellow Whovian club co-chair, Josephine. Still trying to unpack and get settled in, but I will post pictures when I am totally finished!!
On saturday I helped out with move in day for the freshman, where I was in charge of telling parents to chill out in the tent with refreshments and information booths so that their students could get registered, which was a really fun job, but I am fairly certain I took the instruction to be excited and peppy to a whole new level......
Registering for classes, interviewing professors, catching up with friends, and babysitting have made this week simply fly by! Yesterday I had a bit of a snag, and I came home from an evening babysitting the cutest little boy to find that my suite mate had made a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies!
I am so glad to be back at the school that stole my heart. Hoping my schedule works out, and just truly looking forward to all the good stuff I am expecting this year to bring.
I didn't have the best summer. But I did learn to stop taking life for granted so much, and to try to be in the moment more. Life is going to throw obstacles in your way, which is pretty much what my summer amounted to, but thats actually okay. Plans change, but all we can do is make lemonade out of sour lemons and hope that it tastes okay, and if it doesn't, just throw some more sugar in!

May your day be filled with joy, and your heart with happiness!

-Katrina

About Little, and a quick summer recap!

I was unable to bring myself to write about my summer until very recently. Or approach the subject of my grandmothers death in a way that was more profound than a few Facebook posts. 

My beloved Grandmother Carolyn (Vernon) Allbritain passed away on July 22nd. The whole ordeal was very scary, sad and frustrating. She was in Hospice for the last 11 days of her life, and the staff there did an amazing job taking care of her, and of us. I am going to post an excerpt of what I said at her memorial a few weeks ago below: 

Good afternoon. I’m Katrina, Carol’s Granddaughter and her youngest Daughter Barbara’s only child. I am the middle grandchild, and Carol was staying with my family during her final weeks. 

When I was probably about 3, I distinctly remember making the frank observation to my mom, that her mom was little and my dad’s parents were big.  She told me that wasn’t very nice, but I set the record straight right away, clarifying that I meant in their heights. Somehow this got relayed to my Grandma, and through some chain of events I am not able to remember, this became my nickname for her. So she was my little, and I was her little. 

Without my grandma in my life, I would not have such an intense interest in politics, or take a guilty sort of pleasure in tabloid magazines. She fostered my love of reading. She introduced me to amazing movies, both more recent and classic ones alike. She also fostered my fascination with the British Royals, and I watched the recent Royal Wedding on her living room floor. She indulged my make-believe as a child, and always made sure her home was a welcome place for me. Growing up, a visit to Grandma’s meant that the cookie jar in the kitchen was full of chocolate chip cookies (from a package, but still!), there was probably a pot of her vegetable soup on the stove, and some cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster being heated in the oven;

My grandma was generous, sometimes to a fault, she was an incredible listener, and She told really good stories. Throughout the last few weeks in was positively remarkable the impact she had on all the doctors, nurses and staff. They told us over and over that they had never met anyone like her. 

I am so grateful for the amazing care of the staff of the Hospice of the Western Reserve. Not only did they take amazing care of Carolyn, respecting her both as a patient, but also as a person, but they also took amazing care of our family. 

I feel so blessed to have had my grandma in my life for as long as I did. To have gotten the opportunity to get to know her, to learn from her, and to love her, is one that I will treasure always. Something that I will always appreciate about her, was her unique ability to touch people, to treat everyone with warmth and dignity (unless they pissed her off, then well, their loss, they could bare the brunt of her snark!). She never treated me like a child, always valuing my opinion. 

I feel lost, like this is all some terrible dream. But I want to say this. Little, if you can hear me. I hope you are happy wherever you are, even if you are separated from us. I hope you and Michael are together, watching Rachel Maddow, drinking some Pepsi and reading together. But who is going to watch Meet Me In St. Louis with me? Who is going to send me articles in the mail from magazine? Who is going to recommend amazing books? Who can I call at midnight, with any question or story? My heart is breaking at losing my grandma, my Little.

Now I would like to close with a poem by David Harkins entitled: She is Gone

You can shed tears that she is gone,
Or you can smile because she lived,
You can close your eyes and hope that she will come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared,
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on,
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your
back,
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes,
love and go on.

****************************************************

Suffice to say, my summer was not perfect. Its been pretty interesting trying to explain to my friends, teachers and classmates back at Sarah Lawrence... I've gone from saying "okay" "Fine" "eeeeehhhh" "long story" to the most direct "shitty". 

There were some good bits too!!!!! Some really beautiful outings with friends, a really nice mini-vacation with my Dad's side of the family, and getting to spend some really nice quality time with my younger cousin Rachel. Working at The Sweet Spot was a nice refuge, and our family friends were amazing in their support from my Grandma's diagnosis, to Hospice, to her memorial service. 

I am so glad to be back at SLC. (Post directly to follow!!!)