My Yesterday...A Memoir by Bryan Ripley Crandall. Mama Told Me There'd Be Days Like This.

Happy Mother's Day.

With the rain, I am anticipating a less eventful day. Yesterday was one for the record books (and Mama told me there'd be days like this - I love this photo of Mimi and Chitunga on Milford Street, her childhood Home).

So I wake up and start grading. My house has been invaded by carpenter bees, and although they've been around for a few years, this year there are too many, so I hired a bug company to do their thing. Two cool college girls from Idaho showed up this morning and said this is their summer gig (in CT) and we started talking bugs (which I love). I tell them that I wouldn't normally hire anyone, but they seem to be multiplying every day. They explain it is normal and I say, I don't have a lot of bugs.

Then, as if on cue, a fog of midges start coming out of the ground (they were hatching) and they were everywhere. We were covered and I said, "Maybe we should step inside." That's when this brown spot started coming after us from the blue sky and it turned out to be a swarm of swallows - you know - like that blog that clogs in the sky and suddenly moves in different directions. It was beautiful.

The swallows began dive bombing the midges and it was like The Birds. It was cool as the birds whirled around our heads diving at the bugs.

As soon as it started, the bugs and birds were gone. I was like, "Holy Nature, Batman." It stopped as soon as it began was very cool.

The girls treated the house and said they'd be back in a month to check on my bug situation. Home ownership - whoa. Never thought I'd have to invest in Carpenter Bee removal.


They left and I headed to Canisius Hall for the marathon cleansing. In short, an entire office of a pack rat like me was packed, labeled, and moved within six hours. There was a posse of academics in the building scrambling to remove everything from our offices to meet the 8 a.m. deadline. Many found mold everywhere, including on their  commencement gowns. I was lucky. All I found was 8 years of dead bugs (and my office insects didn't even know about my home insects).

Our hallway looks like a warehouse of unwanted garage sale items. Many of my colleagues brought their families to help them but I had to go solo. It was an exhausting, tiring day that had to be done. It wasn't until I got home when I thought, "Wait, how am I going to print? Where am I going to go? What about all my summer programs? When can I get a new space?"

The skinny is that they are replacing windows, rugs, the roof, ceiling tiles and much more in the refurbishing. It's been pretty gross and many with severe allergies have had to change locations much, much earlier - I'm wondering if that is where my monthly cough came from.

In the evening, however, Dr. Emily Smith hosted a department party where many retirees from yesteryear showed, uniting with the new crop of academics on our team. I didn't think I'd find the energy, but I did and it was a wonderful reunion.

Today, though - Mother's Day - I'm going back to grading. I threw everything into boxes and I will regret the mess in the Fall when we're allowed to move back in.

Okay, MOMS out there, especially my own - have a fantastic day. You deserve only the best for all you've done and do. Let the love pour on you.