Summer 2012

Summer vacation. It's almost over. Here's a list of summer things. It's a boring list, really. But it will make you feel better about your own summer, so that's good for you.

1) Ate at the new vegan/ raw food restaurant in town. Food was terrific. The explosive inner turmoil (not of the existential kind) I felt within ten minutes of leaving the restaurant was not terrific. Thankfully I'm not shy about expressing my discomfort to anyone within earshot, so my incessant wailing and complaining for the twenty fours hours it took for the ridiculous amount of fiber to move through my body made things more delightful for me (and my loved ones).

2) Travelled with the kids to North Carolina to see Kate play in her all star tournament. It was exciting, except for the part where I had some kind of infection and felt like garbage and was coughing like a woman who smokes two packs a day. Not sure I've ever missed Greg so much in my life. The games were some of the best I've seen though. Aside from taking Kate to see the Avett Brothers last February, I'm not sure I've ever been this excited for her.

3) Volunteered at vacation bible school and thoroughly enjoyed it. No, I really did. Someone is reading this and thinking I'm being sarcastic. Even I was shocked when I found myself looking forward to going in to see the kids everyday.

4) Drove Jane to a very lucrative babysitting gig for two weeks in which she made a lot of money. Suddenly found myself jealous of my teenage daughter's financial status.

5) Rode my bike for countless hours and still managed to stay fat, but I am not bitter about this. Not a single bit.

6) Celebrated Jane's sixteenth birthday. Had explosive inner turmoil ( of the existential kind). I do not like the way time is moving forward without asking me what I think. I suddenly find myself almost bursting into tears when I see young moms carrying their babies or walking with their little toddlers. I have become a hideous middle aged cliche. The woman grasping at straws to keep things just as they always were.

7) Recently started going back to daily Mass. Not because I feel like it though. Truthfully, I most often don't feel like it. But I go anyway. And am never sorry when I leave.

8) Cut Maggie's hair because she began talking about her "rat's nest"  as though it were an appendage. It had become part of her and when I cut it off she told us it felt weird without it there. She became convinced that mice lived in her hair during her sleeping hours and when I told her no, that wasn't true, she cried and said it was true, she could feel them sleeping in there and they would leave every morning. Now that the rat's nest is gone I have no idea where the mice are sleeping. And yes, I did comb her hair, but no matter what we did the rat's nest would appear again and again and again. She has a cute bob now and it will stay like that until she is at least ten and can comb her own hair.