Typically, the end of the semester is exhausting. We are running around trying to make sure students have what they need to graduate. We are pulling together the stage and program for commencement. We are hosting the Board of Trustees while fielding last-minute commencement hiccups. For me, I am usually preparing to travel as part of the executive cabinet and travel as part of the hosting team for a conference or two. Basically, by the end of May I feel spent and trashed out. This May was going to be different. I had amazing plans to reconnect and relax. It was going to one of the busiest seasons for me but that was going to make June that much more relaxing.
What is the saying, "If you want to make God laugh, show God your plans"? My May actually went off really well. I had an amazing three days with my college bestie in Virginia. I had a decent birthday with my family. I had found some workable and cheap solutions for a few issues that had popped up for our conference scheduled to start June 1. Then May 31st punched me in the face.
I was getting ready for bed when my little came and said, "Grandma is about to take Grandpa to the hospital." I flew off the couch to get an idea of what was going on, then immediately changed clothes and flipped my internal switch from sleep to fight mode. My dad was having pain so bad he couldn't sleep. So that begins the debate of local or drive to Temple. This time we stayed local but ended up at Temple anyway. Instead of running my conference, I was running the conference from my dad's hospital bedside. He got home from that hospital stay just in time to celebrate his 71st birthday at home. I don't know what it is about the time around our birthdays (May 24-June 9) that makes the universe attack, but there we were.
Okay, so the conferences (I was only scheduled to work one on-site and the other long distance) were both successful; my dad was alive but with neph tubes, so I know we have a long road ahead. While my dad is in the hospital, we have to reschedule my mom's eye appt, which was going to determine if she needed surgery on her eye. That got rescheduled pretty easily; okay, one issue down. GymGirl has been having some intense pain going on so we visited a new specialist in June and got a new diagnosis for her and an order to another specialist for an October visit.
So not too bad, right? I can still salvage my June. I have an appt with an endocrinologist to check in on my Hashimoto's, and since that is the whole morning, I scheduled a nail and hair appt for that afternoon. Meanwhile, my mother goes to her eye doctor appt. Guess who definitely needs surgery? Cool cool cool, it's summer so I can take time off without an issue really. Let's get it on the books.
So the week of June 22, I take my dad to Temple for a follow-up, then take my mom to Houston for eye surgery. Both of those things go well. We even got to Rose City Pride and had a great time as a family.
I relaxed. Okay, the end of June is going to be good. We have some unknowns, but we got this. Why did I relax? June 30, guess where I was? Back in the ER with my dad. This time we were able to stay local, but man, the level of care- well, really, it was the communication that was the issue. Unlike stays in Temple where my dad's care is my focus, with him in Lufkin, I could and needed to keep my scheduled appts for the girls. Eye doc, dentist, and most importantly hair! So I was popping in and out of the hospital and having to hope I could catch the doctors.
I spent the 4th of July waiting for my dad's intestine to wake up after a blockage. It was not fun but he did get to go home the next day. Some people spent the 4th looking at fireworks; I was watching an ileostomy bag, praying it would fill up (it did).
Then I had to take him to a follow-up in Temple. Cool cool cool, another exhausting start to a month but I got this. That Thursday, July 9th, I'm on my way to a board meeting when my husband calls and lets me know Gymgirl has a new symptom with her migraines. We are advised to take her to the ER. This was my 3rd hospital in 7 days. While we are there, her heart rate is sky-high, and her blood pressure isn't coming down. She got a clean CT of her head so we are sent home. But the heart rate thing is bothering us. So we scheduled to see the pediatrician. That appt is two weeks out, and in the meantime we are surprisingly good as a family and healthwise.
Now during all of this, a person I thought was a friend was moving out of the area. I thought for sure we would have one last hang out. But no, I wasn't important enough for that. Cool cool cool, I figured that person had been a user, but you know, hope springs eternal. Then the board I serve on had a major shakeup that we are still finding our way through.
Each day of July at work is a march towards welcoming the students back. Meetings to make sure residents' halls are ready, the admin side of things is ready, and the big campus kickoff is good to go. I love my job, and the work I do really does line up with my purpose so I really enjoy going to work. I love the hard projects and having campus fill up. The only issue is that I need to be at work to do this type of work. I really don't have a remote-friendly position. I tend to pack June with appts so the rest of the year is easy so much for that!
Gymgirl goes to her pedi appt, and we get a new diagnosis to add to the pile plus another specialist referral. My dad has a phone dr appt that doesn't happen but does make me late for work; I really, really, really dislike being late for work and that was last Friday.
Monday we welcomed our first-time freshman to campus! The academic year is underway. My Fall will be crazy busy with not only work but with my dad's appts and probably a major surgery. I need to go back to endo for a follow-up. I need to take Gymgirl to all of her appts.
The point of this rambling mess? This summer was not the summer I had planned. This summer really wasn't fun or relaxing. In 2026, I have been in the ER with hubby, GymGirl, LiL'Bit, and my dad. I have been in four different hospitals in three different cities. All I can do at this point is gird my loins and pray for a decent Fall semester. Oh, by the way, did you know Gymgirl is a high school Senior?
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