One
Tom has been gone for more than two weeks, but he comes home tonight! He spent about 10 days in Miami, judging the ANA Avatar X-Prize competition, and then wrapped up with his travels with a few days at "Man Camp" in Wisconsin with some of the menfolk in his extended family. It's been a long - and occasionally rough - 15 days, but we all made it.
Two
Reason #1 why these last two weeks were rough (for those of us at home): Hallie got sick. I knew *something* would happen in Tom's absence, so I can't say I was surprised when a COVID-esque illness struck Hallie down. I had to quarantine her in the master suite (more space, so she could attend some of her dance classes on Zoom, plus a television, a bathroom of her own, and a separate door to outside) for a few days, fully sanitize the other rooms in the house so Will and I could continue to live and work in the rest of our spaces, fully sanitize the master suite once Hallie moved out so I could move back in, and help her stay on top of school and dance...all while feeling out of control and out of my mind with worry, frustration, sadness, and anger.
Thankfully - HALLELUJAH - Hallie didn't have COVID and only ended up missing two days of school and two of her dance classes. Additionally, Hallie's teachers - despite not being given any resources by our school district to do so - were incredibly accommodating and even proactive when it came to helping Hallie stay caught up via virtual learning options. Most of our teachers deserve sainthood after what they taught through last year...and what they're having to put up/deal/cope with this year (which is undoubtedly MUCH worse).
Three
Each late summer/early fall, Hallie's dance company photoshoot falls on an extraordinarily hot weekend evening. The girls sweat while taking pictures, the moms sweat while waiting for them (with lipstick and powder in hand, of course), and by the end of the photoshoot we're all hot and tired and ready for the night to be over.
In the end, we walk away with beautiful pictures of our dancing girls to show for all that sweat. But until I have those photos in hand, I'll share this one picture instead...it will most certainly be my favorite one of the night and is a top five favorite of all time for these two.
Growing up is hard; what a gift to have a person with whom to share the amazing and the challenging parts of that journey.
Four
My eight-year-old nephew recently tried out for and made his area's competitive soccer team. Last weekend they traveled to their first tournament, and they won - a great accomplishment.
But perhaps the most exciting part of the weekend (or at least entertaining part of the weekend), was when my dad - who was a soccer referee MANY moons ago - had to step in and oversee the beginning of one of Carter's games when the scheduled referee didn't arrive on time. He didn't have his attire or a whistle with him (because who travels with their referee gear, and also because he gave all of his gear to Will when Will became a referee last year), but he can whistle really well with his fingers in his mouth so he managed without an actual whistle. My parents are pretty cool. Most of the time. 😉
Imagine telling 17-year-old Erin that one day she'll be writing a blog post about how cool her parents turned out to be. 😂
Five
Dumpling left us this week, but in her place...
Harry, Ron, and Hermione!
 |
| Yes, they're all asleep in our shoe storage basket. Harry is draped over the back bar, Ron is the ginger on the bottom, and Hermione is the black one. |
Happy weekend, friends!
No comments:
Post a Comment