It’s the first day of the Spring semester here in New Wye, and a day for new beginnings all around.  My students have, for the most part, not begun to annoy me yet; my office is still relatively clean.  This is the beauty of the school year: you can start over again every semester.  Here’s hoping my students this spring are, on average, at least half as good as the best of them were last semester and only half as bad as the worst of them.  That seems like safe math, don’t you think?

More importantly, though, speaking of new beginnings: I have a new honorary nephew as of the wee hours of this morning!  One of my very, very best friends just had a healthy baby boy.  I am beyond excited, needless to say. My friend M. went into labor yesterday morning, and she and I and our other very, very best friend C. spent the day texting back and forth, getting updates, and generally worrying, wondering, and waiting.  And now he’s finally here!  Welcome to the world, baby boy, and I can’t wait to meet you.