Where did the summer go?

Everyone is asking this question, and I concur, this was one of the fastest summers I've ever seen!  We knew it would be a "different" one, since we were moving to a bigger house as soon as school was out, but what a whirlwind!  Of course, it didn't help when some ignorant youth decided to break into a bunch of storage units at a facility, which included ours, a mere 3 days after signing the contract for our new place!  Instead of moving comfortably, we had to move our storage the very next day, and then basically retro-fit the rest of our stuff into the house.

But, it's all good.  We ran into some headaches, some unexpected reactions and emotions by others, and in the end, it all served to reinforce our family unit.  While we are always willing and able to help out others, our family unit is the number one priority.  We must make our home a sanctuary for our son, and that's the final, bottom line.  As we have seen in previous stressful situations, other folks will either do the right thing, or they will do what they need to do.  If it doesn't work for us, then we've learned to just "let it go", whatever that means.  We just let others do what they need to do, and when our paths cross, then that's great! If it means that others move along, that's obviously what needs to happen, and we let them go.  Sigh.  For all...may everyone find their peace and love in life!

So we moved out of our tiny apartment, took up residence in a small (but bigger, and plenty big enough for us!) house that has an awesome huge yard, and slowly we are getting settled.  We had a yard sale to downsize some extra stuff, and to also offer the opportunity for some friends and family to also use our yard for a yard sale.  It's so conveniently located!  We'll have a final sale in October, once we finish going through the last of our boxes.  In all of our moves in the past 10 years, we have taken the opportunities to downsize all we don't use.  It's been a process, because I admit that I am guilty of holding onto things I don't necessarily need, but it's getting easier and easier each time we move!  Moving will curb the pack-rat syndrome, I tell ya!  We were raised to save everything, so it's been an evolutionary process for me, but I'm here to tell you that it gets easier each time we do it.  This time will be the cinch!  Once we finish going through our shed, where the guys moved all of our things from the storage facility, we will truly be down to JUST the things we need and use.  What a sense of relief and release!

One of the neatest things about moving has been how things are now starting to "magically show up" as we need them!  We were looking for a dresser for our son, and ended up with an absolutely beautiful full sized bedroom set, with an antique frame, dresser, dressing table/desk, mirror for the dresser, and mattress and box spring, all that have hardly been used since the mattress was purchased!  Then, we're looking for a dresser for ourselves, and then one magically appears for us to go pickup, again...an excellent choice!  Looking for a china cabinet?  Found one that we'll need to fix, and then another one that is much closer to home to pickup presented itself, from some long-time family friends.  They bought it 25 years ago for their 25th wedding anniversary, and asked me if we wanted it, just yesterday!  What a nice gift, and we will certainly enjoy it! We get to pick it up in the next week, yay!

Our temporary housemates will soon be moving into their new townhouse, that they have literally built from the ground up, and this will be soon, as in a few weeks, which will afford us the room we have been waiting for in order for our family to, finally, and once again, be comfortable in our own space.  It has been 3 1/2 years since we had our own space and that thing we call privacy!  We can appreciate the hardships that folks endure, for whatever reasons, and we absolutely do not regret helping out close family for the past few months, but we are ready for our own space, as we know they desperately are, as well.  It has not been an easy past year for her, this I know.  I also know she will just love having her own home, one that she will personally own, and one that she can take pride in, knowing that the "sweat equity" she put into it makes it all that more special.

Our tie dyed home business worked this summer, also, but on a different level than what we did last year.  We did not setup as many times, as the summer was very hot for several weekends, or storming.  We did a couple of outdoor vendor events, and they varied in their attendance.  The weather was certainly a factor.  Our t-shirts and other garments are much better in their quality and designs this year, which we are very proud of.  The garments sell them selves, as folks either love tie dye, or they don't care.  We have the best tie dye in the entire county, so that has been a fun part of the project.  More than anything, we did several fun events with a couple of day care facilities, allowing the children from ages 3 to 11 to do their own shirts (with guidance, naturally), we helped friends with their own kids making some shirts, and even our son's previous school for a classroom and various other folks.  Many who had never done tie dye before can now proudly wear their own creations, which has been awesome and very rewarding for us.  Just last week, we tie dyed twin-sized stretchy sheets for a college student, according to her colors and pattern request!  We are going to do 1 or 2 more public events, and then shut down the operations except for some special requests or small team events, such as our son's 4-H group.


Perhaps the best part of the summer was a week long visit by my sister, Juanita, and most of her family (missed you, Danny!)!  Dan and Juanita, Cindy and Darrell and their sweet new baby, Allyssa!  What a beauty, and what a doll!  She is just pure energy and love, and she makes my heart sing.  I was so glad to get to know and fall in love with her, and to get to see all of the family for all those days.  It was very hard to see them leave, even though we know we'll get to see them again sometime, hopefully soon.

School is starting back for our son, but also for us.  We teach in the public school system in the home teaching department (with students who cannot be in the classroom for various reasons), and do the occasional substitute teaching.  We also teach at the community college, and that is my favorite part.  Last year was my first time, and I admit that I was a little nervous about it, but now it's so much easier.  Apparently the students gave me good reviews, so now I have 3 classes, including 2 that I've done before, and 1 new one.  I'm working hard to familiarize myself with all the details of the new class, so it should go well.  Mike is also teaching 3 classes, and he's always ready.  I'm glad that he has found an area of working that is "him" and that he finds the educational field as important as I do.

I am going to cut back on the amount of "other" work I do, as I did last year.  I helped run the PTA at Chris' school, which was a lot of fun, and very rewarding.  The problem was that it was such an energy drain at times, because of the volume of work that had to be done.  I enjoyed doing it, but my sleep schedules and other "free" time were overtaken with those projects.  The entire year blasted past, and cannot be retrieved, and it really felt more like a blur than anything else at times.  I worked with some really awesome women and their families, and for that I am very grateful!  We got a lot done, and we made a positive influence on the children at the school and in their experiences that overlapped with us.  Chris and his cousins were also able to help out in the after school events, so it was an extra bonus for them, as well.

We tried to do many different things this summer, and were somewhat successful, but we never did go crabbing with chicken necks this time.  That makes me sad, as Christopher loves to do outdoor things, especially by or in the water.  We did go to the beach and public pools, to an amusement park where he rode a big rollercoaster for the first time ever, and on a road trip for him to visit his grandparents.  He got to ride nice go-carts in an indoor track, where they can go up to 45 miles per hour, and he finally go to experience an IMAX theater.  We will continue to try to make sure he has experiences, with more focus on the experience and fun, vs. trying to accumulate material things.  He's enjoying his 4-H group, and we'll be making more projects for that, combined with what we want to do at him, including a series of raised garden beds in the yard for next year.  All in time...


When I think of all that has transpired in the past year, I am grateful for the experiences, but I do look forward to a much slower year this year. I have already passed over most of the PTA information to the new president, and will finish passing over the rest in a few days.  The final projects that we started will have to be finished up by the new board, and that will be okay.  I tried to "do it all" and it is impossible, but the best part is that I have learned to let go of the control aspect of all projects and it has been extra rewarding to and for me to be able to finally do that.  I don't expect others to understand, but I think it comes with the territory of being the oldest of 10 and "having" to be responsible all of my life.  (In reality, I'm the oldest of 11, so no offense to my youngest brother, but I was referring to my growing up years where I had to help raise many of the other 9 of my Mom's kids.  Love you, Tommy!)

Here's to an awesome new school year, and to a SLOWER daily and weekly existence for myself and family.  Here's to all those who have positive influences in our lives, whether we see you frequently or not so much.  To those we wish we could see more, we hope to make that happen.  Here's to the maturing of loving relationships and to all the bounty it brings.  And, here's to the gift of being able to let go of all that no longer fits, including relationships, material items, behavior patterns, and anything else that has to move on.  Here's to LIFE, LOVE, and PEACE!