the longest and toughest day of teaching of the week - 2 1/2 hours of lecture and a two hour lab, which, since it's the last lab for that class of the week, I need to clean up and put away the stuff. (I also don't have a TA; in normal semesters I would).
Also something weighing on my heart - a student of mine missed class and e-mailed me to apologize. But they explained that a grandparent who was vaccinated but on chemo (and was immunocompromised) caught covid, and shortly before class the student got the call that the grandparent wasn't going to last out the day, and they felt they needed to be their for their mom, who is losing one of HER parents.*
I hope I was able to adequately articulate that I sympathized with them, that these are terrible times, and I told them not to worry about missing class, family was what was important and we can figure out how to proceed when they get back.
(*and no, before you get all cynical - from the tone and style of the e-mail, and from what I know about this student, it's 100% true. I could "hear" how distraught they were in the e-mail, and you can't really fake that)
One thing I've learned in this is that the only power I have is to be kind when people are hurting. It's not much, but it's something. It's better than being rude to someone who is in pain.
I sat down to knit this evening but it literally took me 20 minutes to find both the pattern book I was working from and the cable needle I needed to work with. That feels metaphorical for everything I try to do now.
I'm hoping I can get done early enough tomorrow and the weather is good; I want to drop that quilt off and just be out of town for a little bit.
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