Vamos a España

That's right, you read correctly. We're going to Spain. Not today. Not this month. Not even in the next few months. But we are moving temporarily to Spain this year. Apparently. But enough about me.

My mom's status is as follows: the last operation removed nothing but healthy, cancer-free flesh. This is a blessing in the sense that we know that there is no cancer running around in her system trying to start more problems. On the other hand, I suppose she wishes she still had a couple of those healthy lymph nodes and whatnot, right?! Seriously, though, thanks for your prayers and well-wishings, I'm sure the prayers did more than the other, but they're all always welcome.

So I suppose you're asking, "now what?" From what we know now, there's really nothing more to do except keep an eye on the situation and make sure that we keep a watchful eye on things and go in for the regular checkups to make sure there aren't any new issues. Oh, and pray lots. Pray.

Ok, so that's the big deal stuff that's going on right now. You may wonder why we're going to Spain, and I guess it would be nice for me to clarify that. So here's the deal: I'm working on my dissertation right now, on one of the more important Roman cities of Hispania, which is to say Roman Iberia. I don't really like to use the term "Spain" when talking about the ancient world, because this always suggests to people that Portugal isn't very important, when in fact it is just as important as Spain for many reasons. But we are moving to modern Spain for nearly a year, in order for me to be able to continue my dissertation work right on the site, rather than having to jet back and forth several times a year.

I guess that's all I have to say about any of that. We're still working on exactly what Alicia will be able to do in Spain, because at this point we don't know what sort of visa we're going to be able to arrange for her. But she's being very good about all this, and is looking forward to improving her Spanish (as am I my own!) during this really awesome opportunity. Until later, or hasta luego as we say.