This and That

"Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat." - Lao Tzu

Happily the unseasonable spring weather continues. Today it is raining and a bit chilly but nowhere near the deep freeze of years past. The mild temperatures are fortuitous for us because as of Wednesday morning, we have had no heat in the house. A Direct Energy furnace inspector came on Wednesday morning for our annual cleaning and furnace inspection. About thirty minutes after his arrival, he advised that the heat exchanger was cracked in two places and the furnace is too old to be repaired. He deemed it unsafe to continue to run the furnace so he turned it off and tagged it. Six thousand dollars later, the installers are here to put in a new high efficiency furnace. Between the new roof and the new garage door we had already planned for this spring, the year is already shaping up to be an expensive one. Nothing we can do about it - furnaces and roofs are not luxury items so we're trying to suck it up with good grace.

Yesterday I made a trip to Guelph to share lunch with Jacob. He has been considerably stressed these past two weeks as he wrote mid-terms and worked on his major term assignments. We checked in with him regularly from Aruba and while stressed he was feeling good about his exams - right until the last exam in Physics. After each test he would send us a note to tell us how it went but we didn't hear a word after Physics. Several emails and text messages to him went unanswered until I finally pleaded with him to let me know he was okay. He sent a note saying the test had gone badly and he was so upset he was hibernating in his room. He stayed there for two days. When we got back from Aruba I spoke to him about his reaction to one bad test, suggesting that perhaps he needed to get some perspective. He was devastated though at contemplating even the possibility of failure. Granted, he hasn't had much practice at failing but he's going to have to figure out how to fail sooner or later. We had the talk about how nothing happens when you fail and you just get up the next morning and try again, but he couldn't embrace the concept. I was anxious to see him for a face-to-face discussion, to give him comfort and a little boost. By our lunch yesterday, Jacob's test mark was in and the failure he so badly feared didn't come to pass. He scored 68 on the test and combined with the 106 percent average (yes I know that doesn't make sense) he has in the assignment portion of the subject, he is actually sitting pretty. He sure put himself through a lot of angst for nothing.

On a happier note, he and his friends have secured a house for next year. The parents of his friend Tyler bought a small house near the university which Tyler, Jacob and their friends Alex and Abby will share. Jacob took me to see the house (from outside only)and sent me pictures of the interior. It looks to be an ideal space for the four students. It's on a quiet, well kept street, just a few steps from a bus which will take the kids directly to the university campus. Tyler has a car which will make it handy for trips to the grocery store which is just a few blocks away. There is no grounds maintenance needed for the front of the house and the kids are already planning their garden for the small plot at the rear. The house has only three bedrooms on the second floor which will be used by Tyler and the two girls but Jacob will have the whole finished basement to himself, complete with fireplace, full bathroom and even a little workshop. He's very happy.

This week I also started fundraising for my September Weekend to End Women's Cancers walk. I've been reluctant to ask for money at a time when everyone has been bombarded with requests to support relief efforts in Haiti and Chile but I really couldn't put off starting any longer. People have responded with generosity and I'm grateful. As it stands today, I'm planning for this to be my last 60K walk and I'm really only doing it this year as I promised my great niece Emily that I would accompany her on her first journey. The cause, of course, remains close to my heart but in the future I think I will support it by crewing at the event and donating money to the walkers. In the event you want to visit my personal page on the event website, the address is www.endcancer.ca. Participant name is Jacquelyn Saad. Team name is Dream Girls - The Sequin.