Mental absense

We haven't been home much this week. That's not to say that Darren and I haven't spent a lot of time at our apartment, for we have. But in terms of mental whereabouts, we've been elsewhere. 3 places, to be specific:

1. Henderson Hospital - My aunt was recently diagnosed with brain cancer - we found out less than a month ago - and went downhill extremely quickly. Her current residence is the hospital and visiting her breaks my heart. It's really hard to think about anything else, knowing that my family is going through such a painful time.
   My father-in-law had been staying one floor down from my aunt since Tuesday, recovering from knee replacement surgery. He's now home and working really hard to do menial, but important, tasks like going to the bathroom.
   
2. A parallel universe - Darren has been doing extensive reading about time travel. This week has been filled with ongoing, in-depth research which will culminate in 4 extremely long posts on his blog. It's been challenging listening him speak so intently about things that I (1) don't really understand and (2) don't believe are possible.
3. Niagara College - The summer semseter ends this coming Friday following a week of exams. The past week has been one of finishing up the classwork and preparing for exams, which takes more focused attention than mid-semester lesson planning. At the same time I'm preparing my challenges to be given advanced standing in the Post Graduate TESL program so I can earn this certificate by doing only 25% of the coursework. I've found out that sometimes it's hard to justify knowlege.

So that's where these Conleys have been for the past week or so. Physically, everything's good here, but I'm mentally and emotionally tired. I can't wait to see what next week brings.