May 2015 Recap

Welp,  I really didn't want to save all of this riveting detail for the monthly recap, but May was just too busy to do much pausing and reflecting.  Truthfully, the first few weeks of it 'bout killed us.  Knowing I have a flair for the dramatic, that may be a bit of a stretch...but only a bit.  

In the first five days of the month we: hosted my college roommate and two of her three kids overnight, I attended a baby shower, we had our small group end-of-semester cookout, went to church, attended a birthday party for one of Luke's little friends, had an evening meeting at church, and Luke caught a stomach bug.  All of that in the first FIVE days.  It barely slowed down from there.

That Friday I checked Audrey out of school early and took her down to a special gluten-free bakery in Roswell for a Mommy-Daughter Date.  I knew that this summer might actually mean less time for just she and I since I wouldn't be volunteering in her classroom.  I wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate the end of her kindergarten year and Mother's Day with just her and, frankly, to sneak her out of school for a couple of hours that didn't involve a doctor's appointment. 

On the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend I excitedly headed out for my annual day off only to have to end it early and head home because I was nauseous.  I wasn't sure if it was Luke's bug or the ever-increasing havoc that my monthly hormones cause these days, but it was getting ugly fast.  I made it home before getting sick, but spent that afternoon, evening, and most of the next day in bed.  It was really sad not to get to do the hike and picnic we had planned and I was very bummed about missing the special day with the kids.  David was a champ, though, and the kids were very sweetly concerned about me.  I guess I'm glad it didn't happen on a weekend we had big plans, but I do so hope not to spend another Mother's Day like that.

The following Monday was Audrey's Field Day at school and she had a decent time.  There was one incident where she got really embarrassed and I felt so bad for her.  A bunch of kindergarten classes were doing relays in a chaotic mass and the coach was dragging a hose out to fill up the little pools so they could do the sponge-squeeze-fill-up-a-jar thing.  As he walked back, he squirted Audrey as well as some other kids nearby with the hose.  It scared her and got water all over her glasses.  To make matters worse, he brought it up and apologized on his megaphone.  Twice.  (DUDE.  Quit talking!)  She ran to me and hid her face in my leg, crying mostly from humiliation.  I talked her down and ran back across with her and we waited together in line for that particular game to end.  It just wouldn't be elementary school field day unless the non-athletic kids were sufficiently embarrassed.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not in favor of doing away with the event because that's just part of life.  But it certainly was not one of my favorite parts and won't likely be hers either.  As I reminded her later, though, it was far less scarring than when I split my shorts open doing the dizzy bat race at my kindergarten (or was it first grade?  I've blocked it out...) field day.  I then had to get them stapled in the office and go on to chapel until my mom arrived with an extra pair.  Oh yes ma'am, that happened.  She giggled and admitted that the wet glasses and public megaphone apology seemed a little less terrible.  

That same week I dropped off the van at the body shop to get the rear gate repaired. Someone had backed into me in the gym parking lot a few weeks before.  I was perturbed at the inconvenience, but I'm very thankful they left a note and that their Allstate Insurance was so pleasant to work with.  I got a rental minivan - a 2015 Chrysler Town and Country, as a matter of fact - and quite enjoyed driving around in the a nice, spotless, smells-like-new ride for a few days.  When the body shop called to tell me they were running ahead of schedule, I made sure they knew I wanted them to take their time and do things right.  No need to rush on my account, folks.  I don't mind driving this another day or two at all. (And that, my friends, is sign #572 that you're an adult.  Getting that pumped about a clean minivan.)

The end of the week was Audrey's end of year class party.  I scaled back a little from what I normally would have done and kept the five stations and decorations pretty low-key.  We had a bubble station complete with giant bubble solution, a musical beach towels (like musical chairs) station, a ring and flamingo toss station, a hula-hoop game station, and an art station where they painted tropical sun catchers.  After the kids cycled through the centers, we had some snacks and (very melted) ice cream sundaes.  We presented the teacher with a monogrammed tote full of summer gifts, gift cards, and a framed picture of her with the class in a mat that the kids had all signed.  They limboed their way back to class with their game prizes, sun catchers, and ice cream mustaches.  I personally nearly cried a river of relief on the way home.  I couldn't believe I'd survived my first year in the room mom big leagues.  I laid down that afternoon and took the first nap I'd taken in who knows how long.  And when the alarm went off to signal me it was time to get up and finish putting away all of the party decorations and supplies, I turned it off and slept another half hour.  Glory be.  After Audrey came home from school, we got to meet the Taylors at the park for a couple of hours, which rounded out a wonderful day.  

On Saturday after a long run (which is about 6 miles for me these days), we went to a local art festival.  The kids ran around in their favorite open field, made sand art, and Luke got to pay $1 and paint a car for five minutes as part of a scholarship fundraiser.  We walked over to a park and let them play for awhile before grabbing lunch outside.  We felt like the itinerary just begged to be concluded with ice cream and then naps for all.  It was a perfect way to jumpstart summer and celebrate putting the craziest part of the month behind us.  

Painters were coming to our house the next week to do the exterior, which meant that during the end of April and first of May, I had also been frantically attempting to choose paint colors.  I was under the gun to choose something and submit it to our HOA for approval before they were scheduled to show up.  I spent hours (yes, plural) driving around the neighborhood taking pictures of what I liked and then getting samples and testing them out.  I get obsessive about finding the perfect pillows for the couch, so you can only imagine what a grueling process it is for me when we're talking about that kind of money for that long of a time period.  I had a friend recommend a realtor/designer in the neighborhood, so she came out and weeded through my choices with me.  It helped immensely.  The painting crew got started and, though there was a lot more rotten wood to replace than we expected, it went well and we are very, very pleased with the end result.  

Audrey's last day of school was the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend.  The kids and I started summer off right by driving up to a farm and picking strawberries that Friday then meeting David at Mellow Mushroom for dinner and watching a few minutes of an outdoor concert for Memorial Day.  On Saturday, we all headed to Alabama to celebrate David's aunt's retirement and his cousin's high school graduation.  I don't much recall the rest of the holiday weekend except that there were burgers involved, a walk or two, and several thoughtful prayers for those men and women who gave us the freedom to do wonderfully monotonous things.

We celebrated David turning 34 during the last week and he wished upon his peach cobbler candle while the kids dove into their gluten-free ice cream sundaes.   I gave him a printed out coupon explaining I'd reserved a kayak rental for us to try out on the Chattahoochee River, something he's wanted to do since we moved to the area two and a half years earlier.  

That Friday night we took the kids to his parents and I picked up the two person kayak.  We went out for a belated birthday dinner at a mexican restaurant and then went home to binge-watch West Wing, which we'd borrowed from friends.  The E. Coli levels in the river were running high, but by Saturday morning they were back in the safe zone, so we loaded up and ventured out.  We drove to Settles Bridge and carried the kayak down to the ramp, feeling a smidge anxious but a lot adventurous.  We'd mapped out our course, planning on going upstream to the bridge at Hwy. 20 and then circling back down to the park.  Because the logistics of putting in at one place and getting out at another were so difficult ("But the truck has to end up here.  No, we can't leave the kayak alone.  Okay, if I drive you there and then...")  we opted to attempt doing a loop.  The water felt unsurprisingly cold and the fog made us a little uneasy as we got in and pushed off.  While going upstream wasn't terribly hard, we certainly couldn't sit back and enjoy the scenery.  We paddled over a few tough sections of big rocks and got in sync pretty quickly.  After awhile, I began to hear the sound of water breaking and rushing and felt nervous about what was ahead.  Turns out it was a little ledge that we unsuccessfully attempted to get over twice before it pushed us towards an area of fallen tress along the shore and we decided to abandon our route a little earlier than planned.  (Sidenote:  My favorite quote of the day was hearing David behind me state:  "This is bad" as we fought to stay out of the downed tree and not get flipped by the current.  Ever the calm soul, that one.)  

David's work was also exceptionally stressful during all of the other chaos, which was tough.  I can count on one hand the number of times he's been that overwhelmed at his job in the eleven years he's worked there.  It wasn't necessarily that he was working a lot of hours (See: March and April), but it was just a ton of stress over this big two year project that was finally nearing the finish line.  

Here's what I've learned about stress in our decade plus of marriage:  when one of you is drowning, the other can help by throwing life lines.  That may mean keeping things off that person's plate, offering extra encouragement or help, or doing little and big acts of kindness to boost their spirits.  However, when BOTH of you are drowning simultaneously, well, you'd just better make sure that situation is as short-lived as possible.  There were a couple of weeks in May where the ship was sinking.  I remember one night we stuck the kids in front of the television and had a pow-wow to talk through what on earth we could get off our plates.  I even considered quitting my job in an effort to lighten our load, but we just kept treading water and eventually things slowly receded.  

It was partly because of this intensity that we began hunting for a weekend getaway option for ourselves for later in the summer.  If you don't have the time to take a break, the next best thing is making plans for one, right?  We kept holding off hoping that David would have a work trip we could tack a weekend onto, but the only place that was even a remote possibility was Cleveland and...sorry...but no.  He also confessed that he really had no desire to turn a potentially stressful business trip into a quasi-vacation, so we began exploring other options.  We researched Callaway gardens, lake cabins, and even thought about doing a staycation in downtown Atlanta for a night or two.  On a whim, I looked up Norwegian Cruise Lines deals.  We sailed with them for a week to the Caribbean back in 2008 and loved it.  Turns out, there was a package deal for a weekend in the Bahamas that was just as cheap as any of the other possibilities we'd considered.  And it also turns out that the one perk of having to travel for business a lot is airline miles.  It took me a couple of days to wrap my brain around it and be okay with it (but we just did Mexico last year!  What will people think?!  This is so "last minute"!)  In the end (and upon my husband's urging) I realized that he deserves this and, after airline miles and credit card points, it's only going to cost us the price of lunch at the airport and whatever souvenirs we buy, so yeah, we're going.  We'd be crazy not to.  

So that was May with a little bonus glimpse of the rest of our summer.  Throw in a week's vacation with his family at the beach, Audrey's birthday party, a week of swim lessons for both kids, and a few other day or weekend excursions and I have a feeling I'll be writing a "Back to School" post in what will surely feel like 37 seconds from now.

I hope your summer is off to a rip-roaring good start!  Don't forget the sunscreen!