Update: lots of happenings

In the last few weeks, lots of things have occurred that bare commenting.  One of the things I am continually surprised by is the amount a human being (namely me and my husband) can handle at any one point in time.

J was organizing a conference with three other colleagues in his field (field of Visual Practitioners: http://ifvpcommunity.ning.com/).  They were not fortunate to have an organizing structure/organization that helped them deal with the logistics, as I had when I helped organize a conference last year.  So not only did they have to plan out the content of the conference, they also had to deal with how to manage people signing up for workshops, negotiating with the hotels for space, finding workshop space in places outside of the hotel, etc, etc, etc.  After seeing J help deal with all those things, include trying to find and coordinate keynote speakers, I really appreciated the American Association of Physics Teachers for helping us last year with all the logistics stuff so all we had to do was deal with the content and keynote speakers.

Ok, so while J was doing that, I was in the last CRAZY bits of finishing our curriculum, putting together the teacher materials for the curriculum, and planning the week-long professional development workshop that was to take place THE NEXT WEEK IN MICHIGAN (just outside of Detroit).  So this is a Mon-Friday, 8 AM-4 PM workshop for high school teachers who are interested in using our curriculum.

And while that was happening, we were also trying to pack up our apartment so we could move to our new apartment.

So this is how the last two weeks played out: 1) J's conference goes from Tuesday to Friday.  A friend also crashes at our place for the conference, which at this point is slowly filling up with cardboard boxes and dismantled furniture.  I am also the main child care person at this point in time.  2) We celebrate little J's birthday on Saturday with dimsum and a break in our packing.  3) Sunday, we finish packing as the movers come to move our stuff out to our new apartment. 4) Sunday late afternoon, my boss comes to pick me up from our new place to drive me to Michigan.  5) My PD workshop starts Monday at 8 AM (we get to the place at 7 AM to quickly set up).  6) while I am in Michigan, J finishes our move, cleans the old apartment and starts the process of resettling in our new place.  J is also the main child care person at this point in time.  One night, he is at the old place until 1:35 AM cleaning.  Little J, thankfully, slept through it on the floor on top of a quilt.

When I got back on Friday night, J and I spent Saturday and Sunday unpacking and cleaning our new place.  We decided to take a break on Monday with a brunch and a nap while little J was at daycare.

I am surprised that 1) J and I are still standing, still going and 2) we have had less fighting and tearing into each other than I had expected.  It is pretty remarkable what a human being can take on.  I think it helps that we (J and I) have been pretty good at communicating and appreciating what the other person is doing...and also forgiving each other for mistake and mishaps.  I think we are getting better at doing this (life?) as partners. 

To be honest, these last couple of years have showed me just how much one can take on and still keep going.  Also that if you have to do it with someone, it really helps if you can figure out how to do it together rather than at odds with each other.  Actually, correction, it is much nicer to go through it with someone you have a very good working relationship with if you can.