Stop! STOP! STOP!

The Labor Day weekend is over and tomorrow school starts for Wil and Ethan.  Wow.  10th and 8th grade.  They are such wonderful boys.  I keep telling Ethan I am calling the little boy store to order me a new little boy.  He laughs.   He says I can't.  I know I can't but I wish I had 2 little boys to snuggle with sometimes.  My baby girl came home for her first weekend from college.  She loves it and for that I am so very thankful but it is very quiet here without her.  On my Dad's side of the family we had a beautiful wedding....I got to spend wonderful time with the family I love, even if I did stress too much about the weight I haven't lost yet, etc, etc.....  Several family members have had significant health challenges this year and it is an all too real reminder to hold the ones you love close while you can.  We all danced the twist and everyone commented that it wasn't the same without Uncle Bill there and I wished he were there to twist again one last time.  We sang "We Are Family" loudly and it was a good thing.  On my Mom's side of the family there was a wonderful 60th anniversary party for my Aunt Maxine and Uncle Chuck who never seem to age and who still, after 60 years are delighted by each other.  I got to see lots of cousin's on that side that I haven't seen in awhile and that was a blessing.  Many have travelled a hard road but have come out on top and for that I am thankful.  We played music, my brother Tyler and I.  He-very well, me-fairly badly but my family loved it.  My mom would have loved it.  Someone told me I smile like her and I wished she were there to smile with us.  The older I get the faster it goes and there are just sometimes that I would like to shout STOP!....just for a brief moment, so I can take it all in.  My heart is so full and I am so very blessed.  

5-0!

That cute boy I married turned 50 today!  How did this happen????  I remember, when we were first dating, and I was falling hard for this Jimmy boy, and I told  him, almost w/ tears, how lucky some girl would be someday.  I was 16 and God knows high school romances don't last right?!  Still feeling lucky.....

Winding down.....

So.... just returned from 10 blissful days at Arsenic city where I didn't do a lot....no visitors to tour guide around this year.  I always love visitors but this was very relaxing, not having any "host" obligations.  I think my soul needed it.  Until Jim and Hannah arrived a full week later, it was just the dogs and myself sleeping in the cabin-Tyler and Kimmie were in the Sugar Shack, the 4 boys in the tent.  The nights were dark, the mornings cool and dewy.  Didn't get my requisite days on the beach with my ass in a chair but managed to get thru 4 books-including a tearjerker that had every boy/man in the cabin rolling their eyes as I sobbed-I'm talking Terms of Endearment sobbing.  Played endless board games.  Worked on my Mandolin and listened to the boys play guitar and Tyler play banjo.  It is wonderful to be home but I almost cried when I left.......And now we are staring right into the oncoming headlights of college....one week away from drop off.  The summer has flown by and as I watch my girl continue to blossom I am just so proud I could burst.  She is working and her employer loves her.  She continues to mature and grow into such a lovely young lady.  I hope and pray that her college experience is as wonderful as mine was.  I hope she makes friends with wonderful people that she will continue to love and count on 30 years later (Christine & Rick, David....).  I hope she isn't too homesick, only enough to realize how important those folks she left behind are.

3 days.....

I can remember, just a little over 18 years ago, tying up tomato plants in my garden in mid July and my water broke.  A day and a half later I was holding a beautiful baby girl and I was overjoyed.  Now in a few short days, I will pack that girlie up, drive her 2 hours to Grand Valley, unpack her, kiss her, give her some bit of encouraging wisdom and leave my heart in Allendale.  Where did the time go?  Were we strict enough?  Too strict?  Did I lecture too much?  Not enough?  Did we set a good example?  Will she remember all we taught her?   I am sad/happy/excited/sorrowful/elated/proud.  I feel as if my heart is ready to leap out of my chest sometimes.....I guess it is.  it will live in Allendale now and it will love and laugh and grow and spread its wings and fly.  And that is how it should be I guess.  But I hope she will smile when she remembers her mamma dancing in the kitchen......

Spring!!!!!

Well Spring has sprung around the old farmette.  I so love this time of year (though you will NEVER hear me complain about winter cause I'm not a fan of 85 degree weather-a year round 65 might be nice but I digress).  My tulips make the driveway look like little Holland!  And there is nothing better than laundry on the line.

The year has gone by so fast....Hannah just had her last lead, in her last musical, of her high school career....unbelievable.  I found myself teary of course, wishing my folks could see her perform, welling with pride for the incredible job she and the others did.  It was quite an ensemble piece and she was so happy to be a part of that ensemble-not prideful and wishing for more stage time-I'm really so proud of her.

And she's driving.  Really- you might as well rip out my heart and send it careening down the highway. Enough said.

And this week there's prom and then the last pops concert and then quilt presentation at church and honors night and baccalaureate .... whew!  Break out the tissues!

And another sad fact....I am now the shortest person in my house.  And Ethan has hairy legs and a mini mustache.  Really.  And both boys are busy and playing beautiful things on the piano but I don't know how long that will last and I think Hannah has Wil convinced to audition for choir.  Joy.  Rapture.

And I'm not thinking about August when Hannah leaves for Grand Valley where she will be wildly successful and come home only to do her laundry which is how it should be.  But maybe she'll remember her little, old mama singing in the kitchen now and then.....