Mission Accomplished

So I finished my Ginger Snaps paper last night and sent it off to the editors. I'm mostly happy with it, though I feel like the last several pages are a bit of a blur. Hopefully it sounds interesting enough for them to want to include it, even if it still needs some revision. If not, I'll have to find somewhere else to send it so that all the work doesn't seem like a waste. Now, I have to finish marking my students' papers and submit my grades. I wanted to have that done a few days ago, but I had to put my work first for a change. I was also hoping one of my students would get back to me before I submitted the grades. Alas, no response from him.

It's a beautiful day in Rochester and I'm going to make the most if it. Perhaps I'll mark outside for a while, though I may save the marking for after sundown and spend the afternoon in the garden. I just spoke with my mother and told her how happy I was to have some time to plant a few flowers and clean up the yard. It will also make me think of her even though I can't take her out for brunch or bring her flowers as I know I get my love of working in the yard from her.

But before I do any of that, I'm going to head out to the store to buy a few cards. I want to send a card or letter to my nephew as it sounds like he could use a little tlc. My mother tells me he's running into trouble at school--doing well in classes but getting into fights or shouting matches with other kids on the playground, swearing, acting out. It's so hard to understand because when he's around me, my family, or his mother's family, we all find him to be so respectful, mature, and a real pleasure to be around. I just wish I could get inside his eleven-year-old brain so I could help him figure this stuff out. I talked to him on the phone a few days ago and he was telling me all this exciting stuff about school: the books he's reading, the report he's writing, the section on "forensics" he's doing in his science class. He obviously likes to learn and talk about learning. I wish I were a rich woman because I'd buy him a plane ticket and take care of him for a few weeks, have a little one-on-one time with him to talk about what's going on in his life, spoil him a bit, take him to places he's never been.