Tolkien has a great quote (I believe at the beginning of the Silmarillion) about the relationship between father's and son's, and this story I really think touched on that subject quite a bit. I'll try to avoid giving anything away if you haven't read it, but I'd enjoy discussing it once you have (whoever you are).
The semester is approaching the end very quickly, and I have a lot to do. I'm both excited to be done, to start a new job, and stressed and a little sad/nostalgic/contemplative over where the time has gone. It took awhile but I really can think upon the entirety of my college experience and enjoy it. It happened right, it's not happening, and I can say I learned a lot. A professor said once how undergraduate education teaches you how to learn, but post graduate education teaches how much you haven't learned, and how much more there is out there (I've got to butchering that, it sounded so much better at the time).
I've definitely experienced that. There's a thousand directions I could go from here, and I'd love to go in every one.
Also I have to comment about something that happened. I made guacamole two days ago, and after getting chips, I turned around and the pyrex bowl of guacamole flew out of my hand, shattering on the floor. the glass exploded everywhere quite violently, but the delicious green mass stuck where it landed. This event now tops the Worst Things That Have Ever Happened To Me, List. This list has public and private entries on it, and, as of this consideration, that is now number 1.
1. Dropping bowl of Guacamole 4/22/08
2. Diagnosis of Osteochondritis dissecans (both knees) ~4th grade
3. Leaping onto the Tarzan Swing at Bethel Mill Park, only to find it was chained to the ground below the mulch ~Childhood
Those are the absolute top three, until someone reminds me of something else horrible that happened to me. Such as the time I got my dad's jeep stuck in the woods. ANYWAY.
Further comment of Number 2.
from MayoClinic:
When blood supply to the area at the end of your bone is cut off, a condition known as osteochondritis dissecans may develop. The affected bone and its covering of cartilage may stay in place and cause no symptoms. Or, a fragment may gradually loosen, separate and cause pain.
That's what happened, all of it. In my right knee (initially the worse of the two) it stayed in place and other than occasional pain, there were no to few symptoms (excruciating pain). In my left a fragment loosened (separated) and again, excruciating pain. After waiting from the 4th grade and then into my freshman year of highschool, I didn't do anything other than avoid sports. But come freshman year I started to mature so my doctor was like, okay, time for surgery and then a couple weeks later I had my knee scoped and drilled. The new unnatural holes allowed blood to flow in (and out) of my knee*, to promote healing.
Then my junior year it was time for surgery again, and bone screws (they are absorbed by your bones) were used to secure the fragment in my knee. Tada! Now I'm okay and allowed to do whatever. The first time I was hopping within a week, and the second I was in a chair for a week, and then crutches for 8 weeks. PT both times, and both times I had to relearn how to walk. Relearning how to run was probably the worst experience. Suddenly realizing that I didn't know how to run was probably one of the strangest things that ever happened to me. I can't explain it.
And that's enough of that.
*Those holes, or channels in my knee, the blood still flows in and out. Sometimes after waking when I stand up I can feel the blood rush into my knee. And If I put my feet up for awhile, same thing. I also have the stereotypical old man knee, that causes pain when the weather changes suddenly.
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