The Friday Five (5)

1. After a rough weekend during which her temperature went up to 103.5, Harper finally started to feel better on Sunday night/Monday. And then she got a concussion Monday night! She wasn't able to be evaluated by the health center until Wednesday morning, when her concussion was officially diagnosed. (Unfortunately, it's not her first, so she pretty much already knew that's what was happening.) The doctor who diagnosed her concussion immediately sent her over to the office that handles accommodations and she was given a note for three weeks of relaxed attendance policies, extra time for assignments, and extra time for tests/quizzes. Knowing Harper she's unlikely to take full advantage of that, but it's good to know she can take care of herself without fearing she's going to end up completely in the weeds with her classes. By that afternoon her professors had already been notified. The university hasn't handled everything perfectly (the food situation is wild!) but I was pleased that they don't seem to mess around with head injuries. Also, I would like to petition the universe to give the girl a break, thank you very much.

2. Valentine's Day is coming up and I typically send my young nieces and nephews cards for that kind of holiday. Historically I include a note and a sheet or two of stickers. The problem is that I'm not sure all the nieces and nephews are equally enthralled by the stickers, especially as they are getting a little older. My oldest nephew is in 2nd grade. So I'm toying with the idea of just putting a little cash in the cards, or maybe cash and stickers. Maybe just cash for the boys and cash and stickers for the girls - which sounds sexist, but my sister would probably confirm that her sons do not actually care about the stickers and my brother would confirm that my nieces do, in fact, enjoy them. Same for my niece on Matt's side of the family. This is the kind of long distance bribery I engage in to try to make sure they know I love them.

3. Speaking of long distance and mail...I don't think I've written here about the mail situation at Harper's college. I imagine it's not that different from the mail situation at many colleges. At her school they do not have mailboxes in each of the dorms. There is ONE central mail room for the entire campus. So if you get a package, or even just a letter, you get an email (or maybe it's through an app) notification and you can make an appointment to pick it up. Most of the time this is fine, but when she was sick I was thinking what a shame it was that I couldn't send something via Amazon (or whatever online retailer) and have it land in her building. No matter what, she'd have to retrieve it from a building that's a 10 minute walk away, which is not ideal when you're not feeling well. I always imagined I'd send her a lot more mail than I actually have because it seems silly to send a card/letter/postcard with just words on it when I text with her and talk to her nearly every day. She already knows I'm thinking of her. I don't know if the effort of a hand written something is as meaningful to her generation as it is to mine, or at least to me.

4. I'm officially old enough that I have no idea, for the most part, who the popular music artists are these days. I mean, I know Taylor Swift, and have been a fan since I heard her sing "Our Song" when she was on daytime talk shows and I was in my Stay-at-Home-Mom Era. But beyond Taylor I have very little knowledge of popular music (says the woman who still purchases CDs) and when I do recognize recent music it's most likely because it was in a Reel. This is one of the many things I'm noticing that makes me feel old, but not in a way that I mind, exactly. 

5. This, being the fifth week of the new year, should be the week we visited the number one restaurant from last year's experiment. Alas, schedules have conspired against us and we've only made it to numbers 5-3 so far. No problem, it's kind of nice to extend it into February and still be looking forward to the top two finishers.