First Day of Summer....for me, anyway

Yesterday was it! Today is the first day of the very short summer break. Let me clarify that....it will be short for me, but seem very long for Chuck. Poor Chuck. He still has to get up at 5:30 each morning. And Cameron will have to get up at 6:30....as she has an internship this summer. And Jordan, in Phoenix, will have to get up at 7ish....if she hears her alarm. But Will and I will NOT have to get up. YAHOO!




There is no better feeling than going to bed and not having to set the alarm. Do I love sleep or what? Having said that, I did wake up at 8 am. Which seems very early compared to Will....who will sleep until 3 pm if I don't holler up there. I am going to try my best to stay on a sleep schedule this summer. hahaha.




I just read some of my favorite blogs and decided to participate in Mama Kat's Weekly Writer's Workshop. So here goes.......





1. If you could cut back on something in your life that takes up your time what would it be? And what would you prefer to spend that time doing?




Since I discovered blogs and started my own, I spend way too much time sitting at the computer reading one after another. WAY TOO MUCH TIME. But, I am not sure I would prefer to be doing anything else. Because what gets undone while I'm in here waits for me.....laundry, loading dishes, and picking up other people's shoes. (I just stepped away to check on these things....and yep.......they're all still there.)




I do admit it is time consuming though. How do 2 hours fly by sitting here?




2. Share a recent adventure you had with a friend.




Adventure? Everyday in kindergarten is an adventure. Lots of mini-adventures, back to back, day to day. Unless you were there, you would not believe how the day goes down. Sometimes we (the teachers and me) look at each other and just share that look. That look that means no one would believe this .....




Does that count?




I did go to that beach house to chaperone 14 teenagers with Chuck and another mom........that was adventurous. I almost wanted to slap someone but didn't.




I karaoked last weekend at the End of the Year Staff Party with some co-workers/friends........that was adventurous. Especially when I knew that it was irritating my young audience who don't even remember Dionne Warwick (my signature karaoke song is "Walk on By") But they don't understand that I was already old when RAP music appeared.




3. Describe a memorable gift. Why was it important to you?




This is easy. For my 5oth birthday, Jordan made a scrapbook for me. She sent out the pages to friends and family, who sent the pages back full of photos and notes and then put the whole thing together. I think I probably under-reacted because I was so in awe of it. And being a complete control freak, nut job....it's always hard for me to believe that things go on around here that I am not in on. I was completely surprised.




It's important to me because it represents "time"........the time that it took all involved. The time that I have spent with the people in the book. The time that Jordan put into it...beginning with the idea of it through the wrapping of it.

4. If you could change career paths now and be anything you wanted to be .....what would you be and why?

Funny you should ask. The first thing that I thought of was a teacher. But being an assistant to 8 teachers is way more fun. I get to walk in, be the helper......then walk out at 4:00. Teachers work way too hard and have way too much responsibility. I get to be like the "grandmother versus the mother."

So, I keep thinking and honestly.........I cannot think of anything except being independently wealthy. I don't think that's a career path. It would just make Chuck very happy.

And just to be sure you all know this.......staying home as long as I could so I could raise my children was worth every dime we didn't have. When Chuck worries about our finances.....car payments, retirement, the American Express bill (I see it as points to buy cool stuff for "free" and he sees it as debt) etc. ....and wishes we had less debt and way more savings.... I just look at him with sympathy. Those years were worth gold. And he is just looking at numbers.

My biggest regret (I know ....you can all finish this sentence ...) is not finishing college. Only because I was smart enough and it would have opened some doors. But now I can watch my children finish and get doors opened. And that is very cool.

5. Write your own obituary....summed up in 45 words.

Julia loved to laugh. She knew God was always there....especially in the darkest hours. On the day she left us, she was still trying to keep her mouth shut and stay out of other people's business. Bless her soul, she never succeeded at that...but she was getting better.

(okay..I think that was 50 words....but there was soooo much more I could have said.)

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This weekend is Will's graduation ceremony. Jordan is flying in tonight and it's going to get loud. All 3 birds back in the nest. The nest that will officially be empty in August when Will heads to Stephen F. Austin State University and Cameron returns to A&M.

When my children were little, I would try very hard to imagine this time. I couldn't ever grasp it. I would just see their baby face on a tall body. I could never imagine how beautiful they would turn out......on the inside and the out.