Cordula Volkening, in memoriam

A dear friend passed away a week ago.

She was an artist, a mother and a free spirit.

She leaves two children, ages 13 and 16.

The brain cancer that killed her unleashed an incredible outpouring of creativity. She painted dozens of beautiful pictures, three of which are now hanging in my living room, in the year and a half betweeen her diagnosis and her death. One of her art shows was called "In my wild brave heart," a quote from a Rilke poem.

Her heart was indeed wild and brave. She lived her life with tremendous passion and she faced her death with enormous dignity. I hope when my time comes I can be that brave and true.

Antibiotics

Over the weekend, my younger son's face swelled up on one side. He looked the way kids used to look when they got the mumps, before there was a vaccine.

He was in so much pain he was crying. We called the dentist, who put him on an antibiotic. Within two hours, the swelling and pain were mostly gone.

I don't know how anybody ever survived before modern medicine.

The College Tour

This week I am on a college tour for my son, a junior in high school.

Since I never went on a college tour, I'm kind of excited about it. When I went to college, I applied to one school, got in, and never visited until I showed up to move into my dorm. It worked out just fine.

So it could be fun to see different campuses and see how things have changed.

On the other hand, it's a drag. It's expensive. It's a time-sucker. And you can bet my 11-year-old will not really have a good time, but we had to drag him along, poor thing.

A bunch of parents have told me sometimes you get to a college and your kid won't even get out of the car because he can tell just by sitting in the parking lot that he doesn't want to go there.

I hope that doesn't happen to us.