Brief check-in

I'm at my mom's place in Boston. It was an exhausting yesterday, travelling most of the day. But we had a mostly good day today. A nice Passover dinner with family and friends.

The Painter turned 4 today! It's amazing. Hard to imagine I've been a dad for four years. In some ways that's more important than the PhD, than having an academic career. I'll be a dad all my life now, no matter what I do. But I still feel it's not enough. What sort of life lesson will I be teaching my sons, if I can't succeed in the career that means most to me?

And in other news: We finally got an offer on the house. It comes in about 8% lower than our already ridiculously reduced asking price. But it's a real offer, and it's in writing. Now we can negotiate, and hope to come out with something we're pleased with. But it looks like the house may sell after all, which if it does, will be a great relief.

Oh... and I sketched out another children's story on the plane ride here. My mom says she's too busy to illustrate... but I think I'll move ahead with these ideas anyway. For now, I'll sketch out some primitive illustrations myself, and we'll see. The first is based on my grandfather; the second on my father. If nothing else, this is a cleansing experience for me.