It's the best Friday evening

I worked over 38 hours this week.  Definitely a long, long week.  I loved it though.  I love being busy at work, especially when it's just busy, not chaos.  Andrew also started back to work this and had some meetings.  Thomas worked almost as many hours as I did.  Definitely a crazy week.  The heat of the week certainly didn't help things.

A cool front came through Tuesday night, and then a really cool front came through last evening.  Oh my goodness, today was one of those amazing weather days.  The temps were in the 70's and there was no humidity.  Thomas had to work late this evening, but Andrew and I were home relatively early.  He'd gone to a cookout and wasn't hungry.  We made some drinks and sat out back and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Although we are finished being band parents, with Andrew doing stats, I couldn't help but remember that the next ten Fridays are "high school football Fridays".  It made this evening even more special.  As it began to be too chilly to be outdoors, we came in and watched a move.  When Thomas got home, we shared a few laughs with him as well.

Andrew and I discussed the future...most of our Fridays from here on out will be just the two of us.  In four days we take Thomas to college.  So many memories and emotions.

When you get home from work with nearly 8000 steps

My job is a "desk job"...most days.  However, school starts next week, and our school is actually three separate buildings.  Today was crazy.  We also had a new furnace system put in two weeks ago, that meant we had to re-carpet the main building, and it needed painted anyway...so you see how crazy it has been.  Today when I got home from work, I had nearly 8000 steps already in for today.  And to top it off, the heat index was 107 degrees this afternoon.  I suspect I shall sleep well tonight!

Fastest yet

Honestly, this summer feels as though it was the fastest yet.  I'm sure part of it is the "empty nesting" that is looming in just eleven days.  I'm sure part of it is that I now work in the summer.  And part of it is just that with each day we get older, and with so many memories, the most recent ones feel like such a blip.

Tomorrow I can pretty much expect to be on my fairly regular schedule.  I have no idea how late I'll need to work each day, so I'm allowing myself to sleep in just a bit for this last week and go in a tad bit later.  Andrew officially reports Friday, but he has a full day of responsibilities on Wednesday, and a bit of a schedule on Thursday.  This was the last weekend of the summer, in pretty much all accounts.  It really, really feels like it just started.  This was, by far, the fast yet.

We had to say goodbye to Rosie

We knew things weren't going well with our sweet cat Rosie.  Last week Catherine had hoped to have another night with her, and that happened Thursday.  At that point, she was still eating and we had hoped that perhaps we would get more time.  When our friend arrived from out-of-town Sunday, Catherine came to spend the night again, and that gave her even another night with Rosie.  By yesterday, I knew things were bad and I had made an appointment for this afternoon.  Catherine didn't work today, and I asked her to be here early afternoon because she wanted to go along.

Today when Thomas got up, he found Rosie in the living room.  I rushed home, and Catherine arrived home about 25 minutes later.  Her sobs were the most heart wrenching sounds ever.  I will never forget those moments.  Rosie was her baby, and Catherine was Rosie's human.  Those two had a very special connection.  We'd had Rosie for about 9-1/2 years, and Rosie was only ten-years-old.  It wasn't enough time, but it never is.  That is the hard part about pets.  We know we are going to outlive them.

Catherine and Thomas were emotional, but they were also amazing.  As I told my mom, all I really had to do was provide moral support, drive to the vet, and pay the bill for cremation (Catherine wants the ashes).  The kids really did take care of everything else.  Thomas didn't want anything, but Catherine and I drowned our sorrows with some DQ.  Andrew was on his way home from his mom's house, and the three of us sat in a room together and just kind of hung out.  When Andrew arrived home, we ordered some dinner.  Catherine headed back to her apartment this evening.  It made me a little sad, but I get that she is an adult and has her own place.

It's been a draining day.  I am grateful that I only have to work a few hours tomorrow and that the weekend is upon us.  I'm also incredibly grateful for my amazing family.

Sprinkler

 Two weeks ago, we had a sump pump installed in our crawl space.  It required the digging of a trench out to the ditch.  Andrew planted grass seed and put some straw over the bare ground, and he has been very good about watering it.  He is thrilled that some grass is growing.  While he is gone, it is the responsibility of Thomas and myself to water the space.  I just went out and turned it on, and as I watched the sprinkler, I couldn't help but smile.  I have many memories of being a child and running through the sprinkler in our yard on hot summer days (similar to today!) and laughing and having a blast.  I needed that smile today!

Junior fair board

Sometime last summer, Thomas announced to us that he was interviewing for a position on the county fair board.  He wanted to be part of either the "dog" group, or the boy scout group.  To be honest, I didn't even begin to understand what he was really talking about it.  He had to go through an interview process.  I can only assume the idea came from something he learned about in FFA, an organization we love!  Shortly after the interviews, he found out he had been selected as the representative for Boy Scouts.  Now, this child of ours had not been involved in scouting in YEARS, so we weren't really sure about this.  And then we found out it was the ONLY group that didn't have an adult advisor.  He was literally on his own.  We weren't overly impressed with the junior board advisor either.  Thomas learned early on that she didn't particularly respond to emails.  I know it was a very, very frustrating experience for him.

We could not be more proud of him though.  Andrew and I both admitted that we absolutely would have just given up and not spent much time thinking about it.  Not Thomas though.  Earlier in the year he had asked his dad to have some things laminated that he could display at his booth during last week's county fair.  And last week, he spent his Tuesday afternoon setting up his booth and hanging out at the fair.  He was able to assist the "dog" group with the dog show that evening as well, which he loved.  He left everything up for display during the week, and on Saturday he made a trip back to the fair grounds to retrieve everything.  Our kiddo literally did absolutely everything on his own, completely by himself.  Andrew and I were available for anything he asked, but he made all the plans and completely handled things.  We are so proud and so impressed!

It hurt my heart a little

Because work is crazy this week, I want to get in there, so my alarm was set for just a few minutes later than a "normal" work day in the school year.  After my shower, I came into our family room/kitchen area, and was thinking ahead to this fall.  All of a sudden, I lost my breath and tears began to form as I was thinking about the mornings with only Andrew and myself.  I've been so focused on all the things I no longer have to do (band work, staying up late waiting for a kid to get home, getting up early for a kids' schedule on the weekend, ridiculously long swim meets), that I hadn't really thought about the things I no longer get to do...making sure he is up, well wishes for the day, hearing about his day, getting hugs, going to bed knowing all is well in our world.  Oh goodness, this is tough this morning.

My emotions are not helped by the fact that we are almost certainly going to have to put one of our cats down this week, as well as the fact that Andrew is traveling.  And of course, today is the first day of August, most often my least favorite month of the year.  Sending up prayers of peace for all who need it today!