Well, we've had a little excitement around here. I spent most of yesterday with Emily (10 hours, all told) at urgent-care facilities (because her regular doctor didn't have any appointments available) and the ER (because that's where they send you from urgent care). Em's throat was extremely swollen and sore, as it had been for days. In fact, we'd taken her to the doctor on Saturday for this condition. At that time they checked for strep (negative) and recommended ibuprofen.

By yesterday morning, her throat had gotten much worse and the glands on the left side of her neck were so swollen she looked like she had mumps (for those of you who remember what mumps looks like). She was in extreme pain, and scared that her throat was going to close . . . At the urgent care she was diagnosed with an abcessed tonsil. For reasons that make no sense to me, the doctors at the ER decided the tonsil had to be lanced, which necessitated 2 shots of anaesthetic and then three pokes with an aspirating needle, all in a very sore throat to begin with. Worst part was, they never did find an actual abcess (I didn't realize this was an exploratory mission until they failed), so in the end they just sent us home with prescriptions for antibiotics . . . I wish they'd tried the antibiotics first. (I wish I'd realized sooner that I ought to press that point.) Ah, well. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say . . .

At any rate, Emily is much better today. She's not exactly what you'd call perky, but she is able to swallow liquids and get her pills down, which is better than yesterday. She's been sleeping most of the day and just this evening she looks like she's joining the living again . . .

We finally listed the house today. We'll see what happens; housing is moving pretty slowly around here so I'm not exactly brimming over with optimism. Whether the house sells quickly or not, listing it signals the beginning of a period of relative calm (and unnatural tidiness) in our lives for the short term. I figure we have until August 1st or so before we have to start packing in earnest. The goal is to move between August 10 and 17. That won't leave much time before classes start, which might be a good thing, especially for Emma.

It's weird to think that we're all - all 4 of us, even Charlie - relocating to Lansing in a few weeks. I don't know when it's going to seem real to me; at the moment I'm so busy from day to day that I don't have time to think about it very much. I've gotten very sad from time to time, but now I'm starting to feel as if there's no time for sadness because there's too much work to be done. I'm starting to look forward to being settled, to riding my bike to work, and to being close enough that popping in for a few hours on a Friday doesn't feel like a burden . . . (I suppose if you're not an acacdemic, the idea of being burdened by having to "pop in" to work for a few hours on Friday probably sounds silly. I'm not even going to try to explain.)

Ah, well. That's all the news from here today. Cross your fingers that our house sells . . . More news as it develops.