It's August again

August has been, throughout the last 25 years, among the most stressful months of my life.  There certainly have been years when it was just another month, but there were many, many years when it was the most stressful month of the year.  Even in years when it wasn't THE most stressful month, it was still full of stress many times.  The last two years though, have been better, so I guess we were due for some "adventures".

With Andrew returning to coaching, me having my own part-time job, and all three kids doing fall sports, it was a crazy week anyway.  Adding in my mother's unexpected hospital visit and Robert's hernia diagnosis, was a little bit of additional stress even though things are turning out okay.  On Friday, our neighborhood had a water main break so we were without water for a few hours (we've been under a boil advisory since then).  Not a huge deal, except that when the water came back on it blew out our water heater.  Fortunately, football practice had just ended when we discovered it so I was able to call Andrew and have him get home ASAP.  He and Robert worked quickly and were able to keep anything from being destroyed.  We were also able to have the water heater replaced first thing yesterday morning so that worked out well.

Last evening we had some friends over for dinner.  We were all so excited to see them as it had been three years.  Since the water was hot again we were all clean and I was able to clean the house so things were working out just fine.  While Andrew was out grilling, he apparently allowed our sixteen-year-old cat to go outside.  Then, he became distracted and lost track of him.  Wally wandered off, and for several hours we couldn't find him.  Robert was indifferent about the whole thing, but Catherine and Thomas were devastated.  Andrew was also distracted because he knew it was his fault, and while I can be philosophical about a cat of that age, seeing my kids like that was so very hard.  The kids were trying not to just lose it in front of our company, which made my heart ache for them even more.  The younger two were so determined and just kept going out searching the neighborhood.  Finally, Thomas found him at a creek in the woods behind our house.  The creek is dry because there hasn't been any rain, so they were easily able to scoop him up and head on back to the house.  Thank goodness!

I am very grateful that everything is working out just fine.  We are very, very blessed.  While I'm not necessarily ready for the added stress of the school year, I am looking forward to the routine it is going to bring.  It's goring to be CRAZY, but I think we need it right now.