A bit of melancholy

I've been feeling so melancholy today.  I think a lot of it has to do with the death of the man I wrote about in my last post.  Andrew has also been gone since Sunday afternoon visiting his parents, and while he was there was dealing with some end-of-life issues.  I'm definitely melancholy about working all summer.  I've had some irritations with both my church job and my school job. It's also hotter than Hades around here.  I've been praying for peace in my heart all day, and for anyone who needs it!

A somber church service

Yesterday we learned the horrifying news about the death of a community member.  While Andrew and I had only met the gentleman a couple of times, we know the boys well.  One just graduated and one sone is Thomas's age.  That one had just played baseball for Andrew this spring.  Additionally, we go to church with this man's mother, in-laws, and sister and her family.  Andrew had just had the nephew in class this past year.  He was a highly respected professor at the local university, and even more highly respected as a person.  He had taken the graduated son and several of the son's friends on a backpacking trip to Alaska.  There was a tragic accident, and he fell to his death.  Our hearts are broken not only for all of his family, but for those boys as well.  This man grew up in the church we attend, so not only do we know the family, but many long-timers knew him as well.  His father-in-law was in attendance this morning.  I am grateful we are able to gather in person at a time like this, but it was so very somber.

An evening home alone

Catherine will be leaving shortly to go to work.  Andrew took Thomas to his swim meet.  Normally I would never even consider missing a summer swim meet, even when they were away.  However, this meet always starts later because of the diving afterwards, and it's the biggest team, so the coaches always do all the optional events.  I work tomorrow, so I don't get to just sleep in.  Not only do I hate to miss Thomas swimming, but I hate for Andrew to have to be alone.  However, they put out a plea for timers this morning, and Andrew doesn't mind timing, and that would solve him being alone...so home is where I am.

I've had a tremendously productive week, both at work and at home.  I'm so grateful for working fewer hours.  I'm only working about 5-1/2 hours each day and trying to leave between 2 & 2:30.  It's working out very well, and the house is even picked up (although that is also another post).

I'm grateful for the quiet time, and the time to reflect.  We are getting ready to enter Thomas's senior year.  We are becoming very close to being on the edge of empty nesting.  Honestly, I don't understand how it happened so fast.  I couldn't help but remember a moment that occurred fifteen years ago yesterday.  We had taken the kids to a church festival, and the younger two rode a little roller coaster.  Each time Thomas's little car passed us, he was becoming more and more concerned about the situation until it was just all out tears.  I'll never forget how comical it was (since we knew he was truly okay), and I vividly remember how Catherine was trying to comfort him from her seat.  I love that she is still such a good sister to him, he's so good to her, and they are friends.  I'm so, so grateful for that.

Which of course brings up thoughts of my oldest.  Last weekend at the closing ceremonies for Thomas's week, there was a lot of military fan fare.  To be honest, I feel guilt in terms of the fact that Robert was so awful in the military. I know it isn't my fault, but listing to things just hurt and made me sad.  It is what it is though.

I don't want to fail to mention that we have had absolutely gorgeous weather here for the last couple of days.  Tuesday it was actually chilly in the evening, and even though it is much warmer now, the humidity is still low.  Love these summer days with beautiful sunshine and awesome temps! 

All under the same roof again

We picked Thomas up this morning from his Buckeye Boys' State week.  We learned in the middle of the week that the parents would be allowed to attend the final ceremony.  It started at 9:30, and since it was right here in town it was super easy for us!  Thomas participated in the band, and it was easy to spot him when we arrived.  When we got him, I loved the fact that the first thing he said to Andrew was to wish him Happy Father's Day, and he looked so grown up in his sport coat and khaki pants...and an American Flag tie that belongs to Andrew.  He clearly had a wonderful week.  Because he was in the band, he was able to meet Governor DeWine and shake hands and have pictures taken.  It was so cool!  We are so, so grateful that Thomas was nominated and selected to participate this week.  It was awesome for him!

A bumpy night

It was a pretty rough night around here.  For days, the forecast had been for severe weather to come through, and the estimates were not incorrect.  The first round was about an hour north of my hometown.  a confirmed tornado touched down and destroyed several building, but thankfully no houses.  I watched the coverage of that for about three hours.  Then we had a break, and about an hour later it was our turn.  The winds and rain were driving, and we moved into a room to be away from the big windows.  We ended up losing power for about 35 minutes.  Catherine was at work where they lost power for about 15 minutes.  Thomas is still at his Boys State, and they were also without power for about 15 minutes.  He was really nervous, but the counselors had taken the boys to the basement.  I was following along, and since we were never really in the direct path of the storm I truly wasn't very concerned.  The sirens did go off, but that was because there was a warning in the county even though it was no where near us.  

The rounds kept coming though.  It made it challenging to sleep during the night.  The fact that our sweet pup is having allergies didn't help either.  My phone kept alerting us to storms, and overall it just made it tough to sleep.

There was a sweet story about the tornado up north, and I could've cried.  The area that was hit was a very small farming community.  As the news people were arriving, they realized that neighbors, estimated to be over 100, had arrived to help.  People were literally running to the barns with chainsaws in an effort to help free the animals from the destroyed barns.  Other farmer arrived with trucks and trailers to help evacuate the animals.  The reporter was clearly not from around here (or any small town I suspect) because he was just amazed by the turn out.  When the reporter asked a local resident about it, the resident responded that he was impressed but not at all surprised.  Neither was I.  It's just what people do in small towns, especially in the Midwest.  It was a wonderful reminder of the goodness of humanity. 

It's been an incredible couple of days away

When Thomas was accepted to attend the Ohio Boys Buckeye State week, Andrew and I decided it was a good time to think about getting away just the two of us.  While we are occasionally able to have a night alone at home, even that is rare.  The last time we were able to go away together just the two of us was 2012.  I love my kids and I enjoy taking them with us, but we were pretty excited about it being all about us.  We confirmed Catherine could stay with the pets and made our plans.

We chose Lexington because we wanted somewhere that we could basically park the car and walk.  It meant a bar needed to be in the hotel and lots of dining nearby.  This trip has been amazing.  We've had absolutely incredible food, fabulous drinks, awesome coffee, gorgeous weather...all coming together for this trip.  We are only two hours away, so I was comfortable leaving but still close enough if there was an emergency.  I appreciated the extra sleep (yesterday I took two naps), I appreciated the forced relaxation (no laundry or chores to do!), and I appreciated the fact that we could afford to do all of this and not feel guilty.

As lovely as it has been though, I am ready to head home.  I'm ready to sleep in my own bed tonight (these pillows are not great), I'm ready to see my sweet pup, I'm ready to get some laundry done, and I'm even ready to work tomorrow.  These couple of days were exactly what I hoped they would be...and they've been fabulous!

Off to Buckeye Boys State

Andrew just dropped Thomas off at the American Legion Buckeye Boys State.  We are so incredibly proud of Thomas for being chosen to attend this event, and I know that he will have an absolute blast.  For some parents I'm sure there are concerns about being away from their child, or even logistical issues in how to get a child here and return home in the same day.  Our child though?  He will be sleeping less than two miles away from his own home this week.  Easy peasy for us!

Catherine is at her apartment for a couple of nights, and so for Andrew and I, this is a bit of a precursor to empty-nesting which is not that far off.  An hour into it and it just feels a little odd.  Tomorrow Andrew and I will be heading to Lexington, KY for a two-day get-away.  I am soooo looking forward to this trip!  While my job working over the summer does cause me a great deal of stress for a variety of reasons, it does allow us the financial resources to be able to do these trips.  Pros and cons of everything in life!

The big 3-0-0-0

This is post #3000!  I've been posting here for 12-1/2 years, and I'm so very grateful for all of the memories that are saved here.  I know longer have little kids who provide comic material, and I try to be more and more respectful of their "stories" being their own.

This post comes at the end of a VERY long week.  Thomas's summer swim meets began this week, and he had two meets (lasting until after 10, ugh!).  His times are not spectacular, but his work schedule is causing serious problems with getting to practice.  I feel a little badly for him, but it is only summer swim which should be more relaxed.  It's really weird being at a summer meet and only have one kid to watch swim!

I worked Monday evening at church after working a full day, and we had a three hour band meeting Wednesday.  I had to have the budget prepared, but at least that was easier than last year.  Last evening I volunteered to help with registration at the church's VBS weekend.  I'm not going to lie, these long days are taking a toll on me.

Today was not a day of rest.  Today was the day my uncle rented a truck and we moved the rest of the furniture out of my grandmother's house.  A few things came here, although most of it went to my aunt & uncle's house.  My cousin and his wife were also there.  With all of us there, it didn't take all day.

There is a lot coming up this week as well, although most of this stuff is fun.  That's another post...and there are so many others I want to write as well.  I regret that I don't get to write on here as much as I used to, or as much I want, but that is my reality right now.  And regardless, there are now 3000 posts worth of memories here, and that makes me happy!

Living life

The weekend flew by, but I knew that it would.  I've been so exhausted, but I did catch up on sleep a bit this weekend.  I've got another especially crazy week coming up, but at least Andrew will be home to share the craziness with me!

The kids are working tons of hours, which overall is a good thing.  Catherine has made a couple of trips to the amusement park with her friends.  I'm grateful for her friend Elizabeth.  Our family would be completely lost without her.  Thomas is trying to get to swim practice, but work keeps getting in the way of that.  Overall though, they are having a good summer.

We attended a family wedding last evening.  Oh goodness, we had a blast.  It was definitely a quirky wedding, and we had to call 911 for the groom's grandfather (my dad's first cousin), but he ended up being okay.  I wish I had taken more photos, but I just allowed myself to be there.  At one point I realized that of the eight surviving great-grandkids, all eight of us were there.  There is a pretty good chance it has been 30 years since that happened.  I am so incredibly grateful for our extended family!

Nothing else exciting is happening...we are just living our lives!