Muddy

In a year full of lasts, yesterday Scott was able to tick another milestone off of his list. He participated in his final Back-to-School Night as a teacher. Staying at the school until 8 pm makes for a very long day and I know that he will not miss this mandatory event. Although he was tired when he came home, he was also smiling with the knowledge that he would never have to do it again.

With Scott busy at school all day and evening I held down the fort at home. Timmy is doing beautifully in school. Although he offers an obligatory complaint each morning before logging in, he is smiling and engaged throughout the day. Robby is clicking his way through his assignments, eagerly anticipating the end of his Senior year. 

After a week of strong afternoon thunderstorms with heavy downpours, today we are supposed to remain clear and dry. I'm really hoping that the reprieve will help to dry up our yard because it resembles more of a mud pit right now. Little Friend comes in from his walks and his little feet and tummy are covered with icky muck. He is not amused!

Not only is the mud miserable to look at and clean-up after, it is a slipping hazard. Between the mud, the wet leaves and the nuts, I am tiptoeing through a slip and fall minefield each time I go outside. Every year I seem to slip and fall on either the leaves or the nuts. I would like to avoid this painful tradition.

Hectic

Every year since Robby was born we have honored 9/11 by delivering cookies to our local fire station. Our simple gesture has become our tradition. It is my way to connect the boys to an event that feels very personal to their dad and me. It is hard to fathom that 25% of people in this country were born before 9/11. 

Now I feel very old.

Mondays are going to be hectic, and that I need to better prepare for the beginning of the week. Yesterday was chaotic, frustrating and exhausting. I was either driving or working from the moment I woke up until I finally went to bed at 10. I don't mind the time in the car with Robby, but that is time that I am away from work which needs to be made up at another time. I spent most of yesterday in a perpetual loop of catch-up.  This weekend I am going to do a better job of setting myself up for success on Mondays. I don't want another one like yesterday!

While yesterday was crazy busy, today will be normal and relatively laid back. I don't have to drive anywhere, so I will be able to focus on work and tasks around the house. I have no fear of running out of things to do and becoming bored. 

 

9/11

 Unlike other years, this semester Robby will be going to his enrichment school twice a week. While he is ecstatic, I am less than enthusiastic with the extra driving. I know that I will come to cherish our time together in the car, but that doesn't mean that it isn't difficult to juggle in the present. This is the first week with our new schedule and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is manageable. 

This past weekend was miserable! We had a wicked storm roll through the area on Friday, dropping nearly 5 inches of rain within 2 hours. We lost a small tree but were spared the widespread damage experienced by so many of our neighbors. Our power was knocked out but it was restored before cell phone batteries died so a crisis was averted.

Saturday we had another round of strong storms sweep through, dropping another 3 inches of rain. All totaled we had over 8 inches of rain throughout the weekend. Our yard has been transformed into a leaf-littered mud pit. Even Friend doesn't want to go outside right now.

Yesterday the boys and I baked cookies for our traditional 9/11 firehouse visit. As I was pulling the last tray out of the oven it occurred to me that this may be the last year that Robby goes to the firehouse with me. Next year he may be in college or working and he may not be around. That realization brought tears to my eyes but I quickly did my best to swallow them back down. This is going to be a difficult year if I cry every time another milestone or tradition passes.

Resuming Driving

 After months of waiting, today Robby resumes his extracurricular classes. To describe him as excited would be an understatement. He has his satchel packed with items that he acquired during his summer adventure in NOLA as well as the miniatures he has been making. (I can't remember the last time he packed for something in advance.) He has definitely missed his friends and his teachers.

Robby is ecstatic to be resuming his classes, but I have to admit that I'm less enthusiastic. This year his classes, which have historically all been held on Fridays, have been split between Friday and Monday. Instead of driving him to and fro once a week, this year I will drive him twice. It is going to be a lot of driving! 

I'm not looking forward to the chaos of adding another obligation to my schedule, but I am excited about the extended alone time with Robby. He talks to me when we are driving, sharing ideas and his thoughts. I know next year he will be away at school so I am going to try my best to just enjoy every drive with him. Next year my schedule will be considerably lighter and I will probably miss the hectic hustle.

Poker Face

 There is an industry conference being held this week in Indiana and many of my co-workers are in attendance. Although I miss seeing my friends at the event, I am glad to be home this year. Ever since Covid, the idea of being in a conference hall with thousands of strangers is no longer appealing. Besides, with everybody in Indianapolis, my meeting calendar is extremely light this week. I am definitely not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and I am fully enjoying the more relaxed schedule.

I am also glad to be home because I abhor a keynote speaker for the conference. This is an individual with a significant profile who I would classify as a "professional amputee." This person has made a living mocking his disability (his prerogative) while outright refusing to aid or assist the greater community in any aspect. He earns money mocking his limb loss while shunning the amputee community. I don't have respect for that. 

Several years ago, during our Not A Luxury movement, I was heavily involved in soliciting support. I know who helped and who refused. This person outright refused to learn about the issues or to send a single tweet because he had "no interest in the amputee community."  (He immediately went onto my f*ck you list.) 

No interest in helping when the industry was against the ropes, but now he is keynoting the national conference because he is being paid to be there. I call bullshit. It is better that I am home this year because my poker face stinks.

Laborless Labor Day

 Another Labor Day has come and gone. As a child I never enjoyed the holiday mainly because it heralded the beginning of a new school year. As I'm an adult I have learned to detest the holiday for the same reason. This year the kids started school two weeks before Labor Day, nullifying the association that has so long ago been established in my mind. 

After a 48 years of approaching the holiday with the Back-to-School anxiety and stress, this year I was able to actually relax on Labor Day. We slept in, lounged around the house and went out for a nice family lunch. Afterwards we all came home and watched movies for the rest of the day. It was simply too hot to go outside, especially since I didn't get a pool this year.  

With a rather enjoyable Labor Day in the books, we are beginning another week of school. Robby's enrichment classes begin this week, so this will be the first run at a new school schedule. I will be spending a lot more time driving this year, but I am trying to remind myself that I am also going to be afforded a lot of quiet and quality time with Robby. I hope to make the most of it before he leaves for school next year.

Near miss

 Yesterday I almost died. A series of mistakes and happenstance conspired to spare my little family from a devastating car accident. The fragility of life and circumstances is thinner than I care to admit.

Robby's favorite teacher passed away last year and his widow gifted Robby his World War II research book collection. Yesterday was pick-up day so I packed up the boys and we headed to Arlington. In full disclosure, I abhor driving into Arlington and Alexandria. I try to avoid the beltway and 66 as much as possible but sometimes the routes are necessary. With no other route options, we hopped onto 66 and headed into the city.

We were overwhelmed by the sheer number of books that were gifted to Robby. 15 banker boxes, full of research books and materials. We barely fit everything into the SUV, and I am not sure where we are going to store all of these boxes in the house. I have been working so hard to purge things out of the house- adding 15 more boxes to the mix is not helping the effort. But the books mean a lot to Robby so I will figure out where they can be safely stored until we move.

While we were driving home from Arlington I was frustrated because I missed the HOV hot lanes. Frustrated, I decided to keep driving in the left lane so that I could catch the HOV lane at the next entrance. In the meantime, I accepted that my flub was going to put me in more congestion and traffic.

I was driving down 66 going about 70 mph when I saw an accident happen in the opposing traffic lanes. All I saw of the actual accident was the car spin into a barrier. After the initial impact, my eyes were immediately drawn to the tire which was flying through the air. 

The tire bounced in the road median, propelling it even higher into the air. It was close by this point and I was scared. Even though I was driving 70, everything went into slow motion. I saw the tire bounce high into the air in front of me and I knew it was going to come down close to my predicted path. In the few microseconds that the tire was in the air in front of me, I didn't know which way it was going to bounce again. If it went to the left, it was going to land directly onto me. If it bounced to the right, I thought we would be okay. 

With the heavy traffic, dodging and darting out of the way was not possible. I was stuck in my line, going 70 with a rouge tire that may or may not bounce onto the top of my car. I am eternally thankful that the tire bounced to the right, narrowly missing us by crashing into the hood of the car next to me. (Robby was able to see her pull over to the side of the road so we know that the incident was not fatal.)

When I close my eyes I can still see the tire in the air in front of me. I think it is going to be along time before I am truly comfortable driving again.