GRATITUDES:
1. A beautiful sunrise (and being up early enough to see it)
2. My kid being accepted to five out of the nine art colleges they’ve applied to
3. Good food and good coffee🥰

I was up and on the road to the clinic this morning by 6:45am and STILL ran into traffic. The sky was beautiful though, and the waning moon was a bright sliver of light. There are certainly benefits to being up so early, even though my butt’s going to be dragging by noon. Speaking of the clinic, I still haven’t gotten my CT scan, due to (I think) some miscommunication between my doctor, the imaging center in Schertz, and my insurance company. I suggested to my nurse that we reschedule the scan at the hospital but apparently that would mean a new approval request to United Healthcare for the procedure, which could take a while. Meanwhile, I’m doing my best not to worry about the outcome.

Good news: I’ve been graduated to coming into the clinic every two weeks rather than weekly! WOOT!!!

So, it looks like Basil will have a shot at one of their first choices in art colleges. They received their acceptance notice from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) two days ago, along with another acceptance letter from MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) at almost the same time. Both are offering partial scholarships, but SAIC is one of Basil’s top choices. The other three are CalArts, Art Center (my old alma mater), and RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). We haven’t heard from any of those yet but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for CalArts or RISD. Art Center would be too much of a problem (no on-campus student housing) and WAY too expensive. Also, I don’t know if the Fine Arts program at that school would be a good fit for Basil. Still, that kid has done very well. They have a choice of good schools now and there may be more to come. C’mon, CalArts!🙏🏻❤️

What is it with recovering from chemo and weird food cravings? It isn’t so much a certain type of food that I’m jonesing for – more like ANY type of food, anywhere, at any time. Coffee consumption, too, seems to be an itch that I can never fully scratch, even though I have to watch my caffeine intake. (I get downright strange with an over-abundance of caffeine in my system.) I have salivated over all of the following: chicken adobo, fresh peaches, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), fresh ramen, crawfish boils, xiaolongbao (Shanghai soup dumplings), broiled lamb loin chops, pho, tabbouleh, tzatziki, hummus, fried or grilled fish… Yep, I love to eat.😄 All of the above have been consumed with relish, with the possible exception of the crawfish boil. Now, don’t get me wrong, it really was tasty, but the presentation was a bit off-putting. Picture a bucket of whole cooked tiny freshwater lobsters, complete with all their creepy little legs and feelers, dumped onto a large platter in front of you. I had to stifle a small shriek. I think from now on I’ll stick to the slightly more user-friendly seafood boil. Shrimp tails aren’t nearly as alarming!