We've managed to move into our new home in Chicago this past week, despite the fact that our contractor is still working on it.  We've been able to set up the bedrooms, at least, and it now looks like the major work will be finished by the end of this week, so perhaps we can set up the other rooms soon.  It's the first time I've lived in a construction site since 1989, my first year in grad school at Cornell.  The new graduate student family housing complex we lived in then wasn't completed in time for our move-in.  Cornell gave us a couple of months' free rent then, but I don't think we'll make out as well this time around.

   Tomorrow morning I help pack the kids off to their first day of school, and then I jump in the car and head back up to St. Paul to help my sister look after my mother.  She's still in rehab, trying to recover movement on her right side, not to mention speech.  It's going to be a long haul for her.

   It's funny, because I promised my youngest that this would be a relaxed summer, a real summer vacation with lots of visits to the beach, playing games, etc.  That was before we bought the house and learned of my mother's illness....  But I am thankful to have a new home and to be able to spend time with Mom when she needs a hand.  And in the hospital, we see lots of sad situations that remind us that things could certainly be worse than they are.