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Monday, June 13 I can't believe, again, how fast time goes. There's so much going on, all the time. Max is really getting around now. He's crawling perfectly and pulling himself up everywhere. John has been beating him up, though. I don't know what happened, but John is suddenly hitting him, stepping on him, pushing him over. He's been sitting in the corner a lot lately. We had a really nice weekend. We had our first three-day weekend of the summer since John has Fridays off now. John filled the little pool Friday and we took out this inflatable ring that squirts water. It developed a hole within 5 minutes of being hooked up to the hose. But duct tape fixed that. John liked it. Max lasted only a few minutes. Saturday morning we drove up to Madison for the farmers' market. The place has changed. There are a bunch of big new buildings downtown and the house I lived in that summer, 11 years ago, is no longer there. Instead there's high rise apartment building. It was pretty crowded on the square. We bought a few yummy things - rhubarb jam, raspberry pie, cookies, cheese curds, a basil plant. The boys rode around in the wagon. Then we came home and just took it easy. Yesterday was another laid back day. John cut grass and we took a walk after dinner. It was a nice night, not humid or too warm. It was just a good family weekend. I feel like I've had a constant stream of adrenaline pumping for the past week and I've been on this weird high. I've just had this ball of excitement in my stomach and it's kept me in this extraordinary mood, pretty much. OK, except for John waking us up at 6 am this morning and that stupid guy in the white BMW SUV on my ass Saturday. Last Saturday Max and I drove down to Springfield for my cousin's high school graduation party. On the way down there John called me to tell me he had just got an offer from Michigan State. I felt bad that I wasn't home to celebrate with him. It was great! He landed a job at a Big Ten school! Well, then Monday he was supposed to go to Boston for an interview at Boston College. I wasn't thrilled about the trip because we were short on cash due to all the other trips, (he went to a conference in San Francisco and then an interview at Portland State before MSU) and I wasn't looking forward to the drive back and forth to the airport again. Plus BC wanted him to get his own ride from the airport ($25-45) and there was no mention of dinner arrangements the night before the interview. I didn't know why he wanted to go because they weren't offering enough for us to live anywhere near Boston and we knew he was going to accept the MSU job. (MSU knew about the BC interview and expected to hear from John after the trip) I guess he thought about it and decided the inconveniences weren't worth meeting people there, so he called to cancel Monday morning. Then he returned a call to Minnesota who wanted to do a phone interview to let them know he was taking a job with MSU. I had just hung up the phone after talking to John about all this when the phone rang again. It was the NCAA. (AHH!) He had a phone interview with them a couple weeks before, but we assumed they had moved on to personal interviews without John. I could hardly contain myself. I gave the woman John's office number and then danced around the living room with John and Max. The NCAA called!!!!!!! I could hardly wait to talk to John, but I couldn't try to call him since they were trying to call. So I called my mom and then my sister. I asked Kari to email John to let him know in case he was on the phone with someone else. He called me back and said they wanted him to come in for an interview . . . in three weeks. Ugh! Now what? He agonized for the next two days about what to do about the MSU offer. He talked to everyone he thought could offer some solid advice. When Wednesday finally rolled around he decided to be up front and told them about the NCAA interview. They understood, but said they would probably not wait to see what happens and will offer the job to their second choice. Ugh! So now we're looking at houses in Indy on realtor.com while keeping our fingers crossed that this gamble pays off. Maybe it's just the nervous energy that's filling my stomach while I pray in the back of my head that we don't end up here for another year. I think John might lose it if he has to stay where he is much longer. He thought about calling Minnesota back to get back into the run, but it's a number three spot and the cost of living is a bit higher in Minneapolis. While we were outside Friday playing in the water, an assistant AD from Temple called about a phone interview for their top spot. John got off the phone and said, "Get in line, lady." Talk about feast or famine. It's been exciting having all these schools call to talk to him, thinking about what it would be like to live in all these places. I'm glad he's getting the attention. The NCAA job would be wonderful for him and for us. It pays well, great benefits, the work would be great for John and the houses in Indy are incredible for the money. I think we would be there for a while. Then, after the NCAA, who knows where he could go. The disappoinment of not getting the Ohio State or Bucknell jobs will be worth it if he gets this. Maybe that's how it was supposed to happen, eh? Keep your fingers crossed!!! Ugh. He doesn't go until the 28th! I guess we'll just enjoy the anticipation. |
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