Rochelle's Blog ::: Subtitles Included

It’s hard to believe but my family reunion in Phoenix was nearly three weeks ago. It went far better than I could have imagined and it was truly wonderful to get to spend time with my dad and his brothers. I don’t remember the last time I saw all four of them together, but I’m thinking it was easily 15 years ago. They are all the same, and there is something really comforting in that. Sure they are all actually different, but their core is the same and that’s nice to see. I see that when I am with my own brother and sister. Our cores are very much the same, and there’s a connection there that I don’t feel with anybody else on earth. It’s quite indescribable, and if you have siblings I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, our resort was lovely. Phoenix was cold. And I basically got us everywhere we needed to go because of my iPhone. I bought overpriced buttons and yarn, went into the first ever built Microsoft store (there’s only two presently), and played a wicked game of pictionary. I didn’t get to know my cousins Christine and Ben as well as I would have liked, but I did get to talk about teaching with technology with my uncle John and his wife Nicola who are both professors. My dad got a little too stressed out about being in charge, and so I back filled that responsibility and made it all work out. I promised myself that I would work hard to not be in charge and just be guided, but that didn’t happen in the slightest. No problem though, I should recognize that ability as a strength and my family and friends can rely on.

Here are some pictures:

We went hiking by our hotel.

My dad and Cathy.

On our hike. From left – right: Uncle Ted, my dad, Uncle John and his children Christine and Ben.

We went to the Botanical Gardens, which was basically some fenced in area of the desert.

Random glasses on a cactus.

The whole group (minus me). From L-R: Christine, Lillith (Nicola’s mom), Cathy (my step-mom), my dad, Francine (Ted’s wife), Uncle John, Ben, Nicola (John’s wife), Uncle Ted, Uncle Bob, Yvette (Bob’s wife).

Once again, while all the schools (and colleges) around the Boulder campus closed for the snow storm, my place of employment was open. Seriously? But it all turned out okay. There was very little traffic on the way in (since a lot of smart people stayed home anyway). And work was light and easy.

When I got home, I snapped some pictures of the snow. I love it. Especially this time of year, because it’s not terribly cold.

Last year, we had a pretty well defined summer, autumn, and then winter. Then in spring, things went a bit crazy. It was snowy and cold. Then the summer came and it was one of the wettest I’ve ever remembered. I shouldn’t be surprised then that this year’s fall season is quite cold and frosty already. Today on the way out of work the flatirons look quite icy and snowy. I wasn’t the only one taking photographs.

As for my day. It was all about IdM again. I spent hours looking at code and my brain is fried.

Yep, it snowed today. Not a whole lot, but enough to postpone the Rockies game and it was really super cold. So I pretty much stayed inside with friends today. I got the crock pot out. Caught up on a lot of my favorite shows. And played an epic game of scrabble. It may not appear epic, because we’re not that smart and it took forever. But we scored about 600 points and used all of the letters.

Today was my first day back to work. Things went really easily. I didn’t have terribly much to catch up on surprisingly, and I didn’t have any voicemail. It was wonderful! In fact, it seemed as if nothing changed or progressed in my absence. But one thing did change. Fall had swept through campus and the leaves were falling.

September is here and I am so excited! I leave for London in 22 days. I can’t wait! Anyway, I actually didn’t snap a picture today. Long day and a huge shopping trip to Target after work. I was there for two hours. I bought stuff for my trip mostly and groceries. I’m about to head up stairs and read for the rest of the night, so nothing quite worthy of a photograph. But last night, after I posted, I heard that the moon was really incredible. Sadly, it’s due to thew wildfires in California, but it was still quite a sight to see.

For starters, I was under-the-weather today, so I didn’t go to work. And then the weather was just funky. It felt way more like a day in October than a day in July. We had the afternoon rain shower as always, but the temperature was actually quite cold. I pretty much just watched TV today and worked on photographs.

One of my favorite things...
Being a girl in the summertime! Why? Because I can wear cropped pants to work. On a hot day like today, it’s so great. It’s practically like wearing shorts. The boys aren’t as lucky.

It’s not hard for me to remember what it was like to have a summer vacation, because I certainly had some good ones. Like every kid, I used to love the hot sun, days at the pool, eating ice cream before it melted, hair that smelled like chlorine, or a swimming suit that smelled like the sea.

I thrived during the summer. I was like a little fish, always in the water, and preferably under water. It was the 80s, so I pretended that I was a mermaid like in the moving Splash.

And since it was the 80s, I’m not exactly sure my mom or dad was slathering us with sun block. In fact, I think I rarely put it on. So I was always suffered that first sun burn of the season and then I sported a dark tan until October.

Somehow, I never felt the need to wear my hair up in a ponytail, even though I must have been hot. Especially, before 3rd grade, which was when I got my first haircut (big mistake by the way).

And I certainly didn’t mind slipping down a metal slide in 100 degree weather while wearing tiny shorts. Nope, it was all good. The burn, the heat, the oppressive sun. Because it was time to play. The only thing that miffed me was the afternoon storms that forced me to get out of the pool and into the house.

And then of course there were all those great big family trips we took. At least a week or two, most likely on some kind of road trip to an even hotter location like Las Vegas or Arizona, and of course Disneyland. I had no problem standing on the hot pavement waiting in line to go on the Jungle Cruise.

Summers meant so much to me all the way through college. And I longed for them in the winter.

But then a funny thing happened, which probably happens to a lot of people. Work happened. And at my job the summer is the busiest time. Ever since 2002, I have been planted inside an air-conditioned office, staring at something other than the sky. And slowly over the years my body and my lifestyle have adapted to it. No longer can I lay out on a lounge chair and read a book in between dips in the pool, where I do backwards somersaults and handstands. Playing tennis in the middle of a hot day seems like torture. And a beach – well it’s been years. I don’t remember the smell of the sea on a swimsuit or the feeling of hot sand between my toes. These days, I’m full of complaints about the heat. I long for those rainy afternoons when it clouds up. And a summer vacation? Is that even possible? I haven’t taken a real one that lasted more than a weekend since 2000.

I may never get my summers back or feel okay with the heat like I once used to, but I could be a little more cheery about it. I could go to the pool on the weekends, and take a few days off without anyone complaining. I need to embrace the sun and get a tan. And since they just rebuilt the pool where I live, and it’s super nice, I need to visit it. I’d like to go underwater, which to me is one of the best feelings in the world. I don’t want another summer to escape me.

So I’m cheating today. I have no idea why I didn’t take a picture, but I guess I was just dumbfounded. Today there were tornadoes all over the Denver-metro area. I went to Target and just as I was pulling in, there were people standing outside of their cars looking up at the sky (not a good sign). So I too looked to the heavens and saw the funnel cloud out east. It was quite a sight. Stupidly, I didn’t take a picture, so I had to “borrow” one from the newspaper. There was structure damage to some homes and business in southeast Denver metro, but no serious injuries.

PS…today is the 12th anniversary of my high school graduation!