Distracted

Last week I was a bit distracted. It seems I have a lot going on right now. For one thing, the new school year is upon us and in my job as a distributed learning support teacher, I had hours of ZOOM meetings in the last two weeks. Meetings with parents, meetings with colleagues, admin and staff meetings… HOURS of meetings.

Then, as InScribe’s Fall Conference approaches, I’ve had HOURS of meetings and other tasks to perform as the executive plan the organization’s first ever virtual Fall Conference. (As president of InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship – a Canada wide organization for writers of Christian faith, I am an ex officio member of all meetings.) Did I say HOURS? Yeah, that’s what I meant to say!

I’ve also had quite a lot to do since ANGELS WATCHING OVER ME – THE MEMOIRS OF GILLES GODDARD released. Library of Congress registration, Ingram Spark uploads, promotions on Social media… The list goes on. HOURS. (Did I say that already?)

And then… along came Freddie!

Fredrick James Julius Mannion is my newest grandson. He was born on September 1 to my eldest daughter, Lydia, and he is one sweet baby! (I might be biased.) He’s grandchild #6, grandson #2, but #1 for his parents. He was named after my father, Fred Nagel. My daughter Lydia was born on my dad’s birthday, so they always had a very special relationship. When she was younger and we lived nearby, they enjoyed quite a few joint birthday celebrations. Then when she was older, they enjoyed their own private conversations in German since it was my father’s first language and Lydia became fluent after a student exchange to Germany.

So, to say I’ve been distracted this week, is quite true, and very little of it was work related! Besides getting my share of Freddie snuggles, my other children and their children have also been visiting. It’s been a wonderful week of family time. Everyone wants their turn holding baby Freddie. Even the babies are holding the baby!