Greetings from Texas! I'm still here. Still plugging away. Definitely missing my Nest & Launch life.

I feel like I've lived a lifetime in the six months or so since I posted on a regular basis. So, I'm going with bullets -- less transitions. Sometimes I have a hard time putting together the thread of my own story. . .

• Work. Have I told you I'm working full time? It's wonderful and confusing and downright illuminating. Some of you may be wondering about my teaching. I wonder the same thing. Where in my life does the 20th century British novel fit?  I don't know. I'm in a holding pattern on my dissertation. Right now I'm doing marketing for a software company, and I sort of love it. It's a little steady for my taste (they make me work every day!), and it's cutting in on my travels and fun time -- but it's also rewarding in its own right. I don't know if I will do this forever. But it's good for now, and I'm learning all sorts of things about the working world -- like how alluring it is to stay at work till all hours, and how daily business lunches make one fat, and how working really, really, REALLY is easier than staying home with kids. Tell everyone. I've tried out both. I know for sure.
• Kids. My third little baby, Rebecca Kate, left for college this Fall. Like her sisters, she is far away in Utah. I thought maybe this time would be easier -- I know the ins and outs of this business of child-leaving. But really? Not easier at all the third go-round. It still left me dazed, sitting for hours in front of Netflix as I pondered my new world.  Plus, we are left with a very different home life -- just one, lone child rambling around an upstairs built for four. Sterling pitches in tons with Parker, so I'm on my own a good deal. How did I go from four children under the age of seven to this? It's amazing. And weird. And liberating. And bewildering. Hold me.
• Holidays. The college kids came home for Thanksgiving, which made all of my dreams come true. We camped for Thanksgiving!! We saw Dickens' A Christmas Carol at the Alley. We watched Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Everyone helped cook and haul tents and decorate the Christmas tree, and I thought back to the years of dragging my people through the holidays and sighed, "Yes. For this I am truly grateful."

Tomorrow it's back to work (I told you they make me go A LOT!) But I'm gearing up for Christmas (how to buy presents for a son-in-law). And skiing! Have I told you that once Parker graduates Sterling and I are going to make a major life change? Here are the current options: 1. Live in Brooklyn. 2. Be ski bums. 3. Live in Missoula, Montana and own goats.  Or, perhaps some combination of the three. And guys, I'm not even kidding. (Please vote for your favorite in the comments section.) Be back soon!