I’ve crammed a year into the last week, I’m pretty sure. And like all good time warp stories, when I slowed down, all the tired caught up, and I’m aging a year for the past week too.

Last Thursday (not yesterday, but the week before), I facilitated the New Student Orientation that we do for our students in the fall. It takes me months to organize, involves wrangling faculty and staff, bugging people, asking questions over and over until I’m sure that a) no one can say I didn’t tell them and b) they will at least come close to doing what I need them to do. The event is a lot of work, and it’s stressful. It’s the first big interaction many students have with the college, after meeting with me through the admission process, and it’s important that it’s a good experience.

I left NSO at noon, climbing into the Jeep with my family (including the dog!) to take G to University of Oregon to move into her res hall. In the rush, I forgot my bag, which means I had no ID. Our hotel reservation was in my name, so despite being an hour out, we had to turn around and come back. That made us miss G’s move-in time, and much stress was had, but in the end, it was ok. We spent Friday and Saturday helping her complete her move-in process and re-acclimate to living on her own.

Saturday I spent in Portland with a good friend, with whom I shared tarot card readings, wine, good food and a really fantastic, if difficult, talk about the state of things. There’s probably a whole post in that convo alone, and perhaps I’ll visit it soon.

Sunday started the desert gauntlet, which reminded me very much of how I made the right decision to leave the desert far behind me. Also a post worth of material, but mostly nothing new, and mostly nothing I want to rehash. Super exhausting, emotionally, mentally and physically.

I came back to a busy office in the midst of the first week of class, busted ass to get caught up on my lit theory class, and find myself at Friday, completely wrecked and ready for the weekend… but with a prescription for anti-depressants on my bedside stand and a plan to continue to get more walking into my schedule to help with the depression and anxiety.

So… that’s a quick recap of the year I smashed into a week.