It's been two weeks since my last blog post. In that time I went back to Goshen for Gretta's commencement at GC (congratulations, again!) and we were able to spend time with our families together, something that hasn't happened too many times before. It was a weekend full of good food, photo opportunities, and quality time.
The weekend ended with a literal bang as Gretta and I drove to O'Hare airport on Monday afternoon. We got a completely flat tire about an hour away from the airport. After struggling for about an hour to get the tire changed, including several phone calls to both of our dads, AAA, and Hoosier Roadside assistance, we were able to get the tire changed! We arrived safely at O'Hare, albeit a little cold and wet, with plenty of time for me to catch my flight back to Tucson and Gretta made it safely back to Goshen.
I returned to work on Tuesday and spent this week doing my normal task: sending mail, checking emails, compiling presentation lists, and helping out on the hotline. We are preparing for the end of Title 42, the COVID era health policy used to rapidly deport migrants from Central and South American countries. The Biden administration is working to develop new pathways for immigrants, including an app called CBPOne and two regional application centers, one in Guatemala and one in Colombia, but these are placeholder measures at their best and empty promises at their worst. I'm not sure exactly what this will mean for my work with the Florence Project but it emphasizes how much we need comprehensive immigration reform from congressional leaders that provides more permanent and temporary pathways to legal status in the US for immigrants.
In house news, this week was full of celebrations and good-byes. Harper, the volunteer living with us for the past three months, left yesterday. To mark the occasion, we went out for a great brunch, went downtown Tucson, and stopped at the Casa Grande national monument on our way to Phoenix where we had dinner and saw The National Parks in concert. We also had a hike and picnic on Thursday evening and a gathering of folks from Casa Alitas, where Harper was and Jessie is working, at our house on Friday night. Harper was a great addition to our house providing us with many laughs, good food, and thoughtful conversation. The house already feels quieter this morning after our late night drive back to Tucson post-concert.
Harper's departure marks the beginning of the end for us. It means that we'll be planning more good-byes in the next couple of months and preparing for what comes next after this year. I'm trying not to dwell on that too much in these blog posts, although it does seem like I've been saying something about getting closer to the end for a couple of weeks now. Maybe it's because the school years are winding down and we're seeing people we know graduate from our Alma Maters that makes this month feel close to the end. But we still have a lot of exciting things coming up in the next few months and I'll definitely be sharing them here.
Puzzle update: my housemates finished a puzzle without me last week!
And more pictures can be found in the Google photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rFXtPMJf9GjWMsFd9
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