That fan thing again. . .

Life is full of sayings that are cliches for a reason. . . they are TRUE! Time does "fly" when you're having fun. Kids do grow up fast. It's all true. And how sad is it that we don't know how true those cliches are until it's too late to do anything about it?

Tim and Noah did the Boy Scout thing today and Sara had band practice. I was SO looking forward to having the whole day to myself. Instead, Mary and her new "boo," Ethan (who spent the night in Noah's bottom bunk after having dinner with us last night) were here off and on. I did get a nap but not the kind of quiet-guilt-free-do-nothing day I had been looking forward to.

Thing is, he's a nice kid and he reminds me A LOT of Tim when we were young. Quiet, polite, funny but not obnoxious, plays guitar, sings, parents own a boat and they SKI (although it's mostly tubing now).... scary, huh?

What's most scary is that I see how much she likes him already on her face and I know, no matter how many times I say "have your own life" she won't listen. Because she's young and she doesn't know yet that cliches are true. She doesn't know that, as stupid as I seem, I'll be smart in a couple of years and she'll wish she'd listened. It's not that I don't like Ethan. He's great and, in about 6 or 7 years, he might even be a "keeper." But not now. Not the same stuff I did. I love Tim but we really should have waited. No one should get married right out of college... I can't take it back and, if I'm honest, I'm not sure I would because how many other things would change? But I'd rather see my children (particularly my daughters) do things better, different. Try their wings solo. Same old, same old. I hope it's not too much to hope.

I'll keep watching and whispering as often as possible but, and this is one of those true cliches too, it's SO hard to watch those wings unfold and not be able to guide them anymore. Not really. I guess I'll just have to be here when she lands, hard or soft.

So I'm looking at them, and I'm seeing me and Tim, a picture on top of a picture. . . I hope I can watch a new picture unfold. It would be SO much more entertaining.

This Ain't So Bad. . .

Okay. So I've decided that this whole college thing is blown WAY out of proportion. At least I was all worked up about almost nothing. Mary and I have the best of both worlds. I see her almost as much as ever and have had to adapt to very little. And she's having the time of her life! She loves college. Loves her classes and she has made a bazillion friends. I'm pretty proud of her.

I went to my second day at my new paralegal job today. I think I'm gonna get some books. There's so much I don't remember or even KNOW. But it's a small office and the folks seem willing to help me muddle through. I might be good at it. . . you never know. It's hard to leave a job I did very well and start something new. I feel at a loss. But I've been the Executive Assistant to the President of the Commonwealth Fund for KET. I can do ANYTHING!

Dropped some Pampered Chef stuff off at the 560 today and chatted briefly with Shannon. I feel like I've been gone forever but no one was surprised (and only Shannon seemed pleased) to see me. Whatever.

Anyway, life goes on and on and on. . . and we just do the best we can. I know God is with me and helping me cope when I remember to ask.

Tennessee for Labor Day

Well, we went to my cousin, Dawn's, house for the long weekend. She and her husband, Tim have FOUR kids. It's an instant party. They have a pool so it's always fun to be there and play around in the sun.

Dawn's an accountant but her passion (or one of them) is photography. She was working on a slide show of a wedding she recently shot during a lot of the weekend and trying to get it posted. It's up now and here (read the post about the wedding and click on the "click here" link). In her spare time she shot pictures of me and the girls and then we did a "lifestyle" shoot of our whole family. We wandered all over McMinnville. It was very hot. . . but the climax was a dip in the river -- fully clothed!

We brought some pictures home with us -- Sara took some of them -- but Dawn's working on them so I'll point you to her blog/website and if you keep checking back, you'll see them eventually.

She's got a great eye and we hope we can send Sara to stay with her next summer to "intern."

Other than photography, we spent a lot of time being serenaded by Griffin, Dawn and Tim's eldest, on his guitar. He's unusually talented -- and not just for his age. He gets better every time we visit. He's learning lots of different instruments.

Speaking of which, Noah is now in the BAND. I got him a saxophone last week. We'll see how long this lasts.

Also, I started my new job today. I'm working as a paralegal at -- no more secretary positions. In fact, at one point I dared to instant message Tim and I mentioned that the office was cold and I was borrowing the secretary's space heater. . . and he said "Do you realize what you just said? You borrowed a heater from the secretary and it's NOT YOU! You made it!" It felt good.

Then I spent a couple of hours three-hole punching a foot high pile of medical records.

Life is good. Even when it's just normal.