Day 108: Back on Campus

Yesterday I officially started as the department head, so I spent the day on campus. While we are slowly opening back up, there are still no students on campus, and we all have to be masked at all times. The office is bizarrely quiet, and it's so odd to stay six feet away from colleagues. 

But...it was good to be back. I had a few meetings and had lunch with a good friend. She spent part of her childhood in India, and she took me to an Indian market. I had sent her a picture of our paneer dinner, and she offered to help me get some authentic ingredients. The kids already claimed those for their meals to cook next week.

We ended our day together by going to visit a retired colleague who is in the end phases of a horrid cancer. It was so good to see her and visit with her family, but it was so hard. She has always been a quiet leader and mentor, and it just seems too soon to say goodbye. I'm grateful for the time, though, and so very grateful to her family for sharing her with us.

Today is a marathon of meetings, but tomorrow is the beginning of a holiday weekend, and I can't wait!