Last weeks of summer - my life

I’ve neglected to blog. I'm blaming my family because they are the fodder for my entries, and they have not been producing. Thus, I’m down to the brass tactics of writing nonsense--like a rundown of what’s happened in my life, and maybe my head, these last few weeks of summer.

• Two weeks ago, I stepped back into an ER and an ICU. I used to joke about how I was going to write a book titled, ER’s I have known, after the visits and time spent in them with my mother, and for years I broke into a cold sweat just driving by them, but then my daughter ended up twice in an ER, and my MIL visited one last Christmas. I got back into the swing. My friend’s daughter was in the ER, and we spent nine hours there before she was finally admitted and settled into a room. The next day I spent several hours at a different hospital with my friend, whose father was in the CICU. She’d called me the previous day while I sat in a children’s hospital. “You can’t have a crisis when I’m having a crisis!” Both patients were helped and discharged later in the week.
• Hospitals have changed. We now have security guards manning the ER, and at the second hospital, I had to walk through a metal detector. Having never done that in my past, I didn’t even notice it off to the side. Until the burly security guard stepped into my path and refused me entry, directing me accordingly. I had only my keys and a water bottle. He asked for my purse, and I pointed to the change purse attached to my keys. “Do you need me to open my water bottle so you can smell if it’s water?” (When I’m with my friend, we revert to our youthful humor.) He told me that it wouldn’t be necessary. “Whew, good, because it’s really vodka.” No reaction. 
• I’ve started keeping track of how many times I have to answer the question about my graduate college daughter, who is living with us. It’s nice that so many people are invested in her life, but it reminds me of the days I worked Oktoberfest when employed with the city’s recreation department. I operated the cash register for the food tent, and we seriously thought we’d lose our minds over the constant question: “What’s the difference between a knockwurst and a bratwurst?” My daughter is building her resume for grad school, and FYI a knockwurst is beef, and bratwurst is pork.
• I received notice that I’m a finalist in another writing contest. This is the first one that I’ve entered where published authors are included, so I’m quite proud of that feat. Now I have no excuse. I have to edit the first manuscript. 
• Football has returned, and oh, my, has it returned with a vengeance! Just as I’m adjusting to the offseason trades of players, it’s happening all over again as the new norm-NFL drama-and injuries are forcing more switching of teams. I need a spreadsheet to keep up. I’m learning that I genuinely don’t care that much anymore...
• I’m still toying with pen names. Who knew this would be so difficult? But that’s the next step, and then I have to build a social media base around that new name. And show that I have a high presence. Jeez. I just reached 100 followers on Twitter, and that took me ten years.
• I like to leave detailed accounts of my workday for bosses when they’re away for the day/and when I sub for teachers. I would want if the roles were reversed to keep abreast of what I missed. Recently, my boss told me she was holding my letter forever. It made her laugh uproariously. And to think I tell people I hadn’t been writing for years...
• I’m spending more time in my swimming pool than I have in ten years, floating and plotting in my head. Yesterday I was having trouble with my writing, so I put on my swimsuit and headed outside. Why did I ever step away from this? 
• I’m enjoying having my daughter back. There is still that parental control where I can tell her what to do since she’s pretty much at our mercy. Then there is the fact that she loves to cook. I’ve decided that all parents should demand their children to return home after college for a year of servitude to give back.