Yesterday was probably the most calm and peaceful day we’ve had in quite a while. I don’t know if it had something to do with the 47 degrees that woke us up or that neither child was medicated, but they spent the morning jointly attempting to clean Tipper’s room. While they didn’t get it done, and a lot of the things removed from the floor were eventually sent back there, they did find several of the forks that had been missing and they did it without yelling and screaming at each other. I’ll take that as a win.
One of the annual challenges we have with Mother’s Day is its inevitable proximity to Kat’s birthday on the 15th. For most people in her family, a birthday means a family dinner, but that rarely happens (I think it’s happened twice in the past 11 years). This year, Kat decided to take matters into her own hands and planned out her schedule for the week. The kids and I celebrated both Mother’s Day and her birthday yesterday. We got original Mexican food to go (easy to do in this neighborhood) and then went to the park. Of course, the park was busy, but we found a lone table sitting in tall grass and that was more than acceptable for us. We then went to the Ornithology Center to look at the birds, momentarily checked out the open mic (yeah, really), and then Kat picked out three new trees to plant in the yard. Everyone was tired but happy, so again, that counts as a win.
Once we were back home, Kat got the shovels out and the kids helped her plant the trees. Whether they’ll survive remains to be seen. I can tell one needs to be watered this morning. We’re all hopeful, though. I continued sitting out in the yard with the pups and by the time I went in everyone was ready for bed. In fact, G may have already been asleep. All around, it was a good day. Kat will continue having birthday-related events with her friends for the rest of the week, so if you see her, be sure to wish her a happy 39!
This is the last week of school for both kids. Tipper is especially excited as she’s quite ready to put middle school and Enlace Academy behind her. I think that’s normal for any 8th grader who is graduating. They’re ready to get on with life and the exciting world of high school. She’s seen the school undergo a lot of changes since she started there in kindergarten. Some friends have come and gone. Perhaps the biggest goodbye, though, will be to Ms. Theresa, her bus driver. Ms. Theresa has been the one constant across the years and she’s seen Tipper grow and mature in some fantastic ways. When we say goodbye to her on Friday, there may be some tears shed.
I had to ask G if he heard me snoring more than usual this morning. He says he didn’t hear any snoring at all and I’m a bit surprised. The content of my last-minute dream was typically ridiculous: I was driving a semi with squishy brakes and stopped to play golf at an indoor golf course where the late George Younce, bass singer for the Cathedrals quartet, was in charge. I don’t play golf unless the balls are fun colors, so the whole premise was just strange. The troubling part was the feeling that I couldn’t exhale. I could inhale just fine, but I wasn’t able to exhale. I woke up gasping for breath and I’m still puzzled as to what was actually going on. I know I feel more exhausted than usual and probably won’t waste any time going back to bed. The whole experience was strange.
The upside is that there was no new soul-crushing news when I woke up. I’m sure that will come later. The weather forecast shows chances of rain pretty much every day this week, so that could be interesting. Hopefully, we won’t have a thunderstorm right as graduation is letting out as we did with G’s graduation last year.
But for now, it’s breakfast and back to bed.