Back to School time

Summer is winding down. My kids are back in school. My oldest is a junior in high school, worked all summer, and bought himself his first vehicle. He's driving to school every day now. My middle son is in 6th grade, the last year in elementary school where we live. My baby is in first grade which means he finally goes all day this year.

I'm shocked at how time flies. I shouldn't be. It's always been this way. But something about this time of the year and the changes it brings is always kind of jarring to me.

It was a good summer that flew by faster than usual. I kept myself busy in my garden and now I have lots of preserved food to show for it. More than that, I had fun.

We didn't have the money for big vacations this year except for our camping trip to Pokagon State Park. My husband, in his first year as an assistant scout leader, went to summer camp for a week with our 16 and 12 year old sons. And my 6yo son played daily with his buddy who lives down the street.

It was a laid-back and simple summer that I thoroughly enjoyed.

So school started last week. The kids are back in school, but it is too early for them to start calling in subs, so I have time at home to myself each day. I need to get the house straightened up after a summer of having everyone at home all the time. They'll be calling me to work soon.

Camping at Pokagon State Park

Last week we went camping in Pokagon State Park in the northeastern corner of Indiana. We had never been there before so it was an adventure for us. It turned out to be well worth the long drive to get there.

We hiked through marsh (seen here) and I identified flowers I'd never seen before in person. For example, notice the water lily:

We also went to their beach. Although the weather and the water were a little cold that day, you can see that my kids had fun. Here's my 6yo playing in the sand:

But of course, the best part is always the camping. We'd reserved our campsite online using only a basic map so we weren't sure what we were in for. Generally, we had a good site. It was the middle of the week so the campground wasn't terribly busy and the people who were there tended to be families with kids like us. We were within close walking distance of the facilities that included flush toilets and showers (a new luxury in our family's camping experience). We were also close to the camp playground so that the boys could go play on the playground while we fixed dinner. They were far enough to be out of our hair, but close enough that we could still see them and wave them over when dinner was ready. Each day was rounded out by the obligatory campfire and smores. Here's my 12yo playing guitar one evening at the fire ring:

Camping Season 2008 is now open

As I mentioned in my last post, I did ignore the media all weekend. That was mostly because it was our annual First-Weekend-in-May camping trip which is our family's official start to the camping season. The weather this year was not as nice as last year. Friday we had to contend with rain and storms and then Saturday night it got down into the 40's and was a little on the chilly side. But that didn't deter us. We love camping and can't wait for the first annual trip. We always start the season off at McCormick's Creek State Park in the same campsite every year. It is a family tradition. Here is the creek from which the park gets its name:

As I mentioned, it was rainy and stormy Friday night when we set up camp, so we had to hang up a tarp to protect our table. It was only a little miserable and we made the best of a trying situation.

The rain did stop, however, and Saturday was a nice and sunny day. We went on several different hikes. (Here are my three sons on one of our hikes.)

And we spent time playing around the campsite.

It got pretty cold Saturday night so we huddled around the campfire. Here I am sitting by the fire. I was bundled up in a t-shirt, sweatshirt, a hoodie, and a fleece jacket with a winter coat draped over my legs and gloves on my hands. Dressing in layers actually does work.

Saturday morning we warmed up by the fire as we made breakfast.

I was thrilled that the guys made breakfast. Here's my 16 year old making biscuits in our dutch oven.

In general a good time was had by all. In my gardening blog I have created a companion post where I will share all the wildflowers that I identified this trip. And if you are a wildflower fan, this weekend was incredible. Everything seemed to be in bloom!

We are excited about camping again and are already planning our next camping trip for some time in June.

Scout-o-rama

Yesterday we spent the day at our district's annual Scout-o-Rama. All of the Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops from our entire district were there. In addition to being a fun day, it was a milestone day for my 11yo. He received his Arrow of Light award (highest honor in Cub Scouts)and "bridged up" into Boy Scouts. As the den leader, it was nice to watch the boys I'd worked with for years receive this honor. Here are 3 of my 4 boys after receiving the Arrow of Light award. (The fourth boy had a scheduling conflict.)



Here's my son crossing the rope bridge that was the symbolic bridge to Boy Scouts.



And now they stand as Boy Scouts at the end of the bridge with their new Scoutmaster and one of the older Boy Scouts.



My oldest son was also involved with helping to run the event. He did the cooking for his troop. Here he is making chicken and noodles.



And here he is (on the left) with a boy from another troop serving as emcees at the campfire circle in the evening. (The audience is off camera to the left.)

The Vegetarian Discussion

It's that time of year again when the topic of vegetarianism comes up again in our family. Now that the cold winter is behind us (for the most part) we are more inclined to want to get away from meat. Intellectually we are all behind it (okay, maybe except for the 11yo and the 6yo). The problem is much more pragmatic.

You see, I am Busy. Yes, that's Busy with a capital B. When I was working full time back in February and March, I didn't even set foot in a grocery store. There was no time. Dinner was left up to the hubby and the delivery man. Now that I'm back to subbing, I have a little more time for luxuries like grocery shopping...but not much. I have time to shop, barely. I don't have time for clipping coupons, meal planning, and list writing. So in between my many other errands, I stop by the grocery store, grab a cart and weave in and out of the aisles throwing things into the cart.

At this point it is all muscle memory and habit. I can come up with meat-based meals on the spot without a list because I've done that for years. When I am in the grocery store, I can see frozen chicken breasts or ground beef on sale and immediately 4-5 recipes pop into my head and almost simultaneously so do the other needed ingredients and where I can find them in the store. My mental store of vegetarian recipes is much more limited. I mean, I can do Boca Burgers and Mac and Cheese and I'm about spent. Now I'm sure people could comment to this post and say "you could try ...(insert whatever favorite veggie recipe)". I know that there are lots of other vegetarian options and I have cookbooks at home to help me. The point is, they aren't in my head. To get to them I have to sit down with the cookbooks ahead of time, plan my meals, list the ingredients, check what we already have at home, and then shop. That becomes real Work that takes Time.

My husband is getting irritated with me. He has gone back to eating strictly vegetarian a week ago and I keep making meat for dinner. Last night it was frozen chicken breasts in one of those meal in a box kits. You know the kind, put chicken, stuffing mix and seasoning in one pan, cover with a can of sauce and pop in the oven. Five minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking in the oven, and dinner is served. He frowned. He stopped on his way home from work and bought a frozen organic spinach and feta pizza for himself.

I've told him he is welcome to make dinner himself if he doesn't like what I'm making. Right now this is what I have. I'd like to be able to run through the grocery store and pick out vegetarian meal items (preferably a week's worth at a time) the way I can with meat-based items, but I'm not there yet. Sigh.

Maybe I need to watch Fast Food Nation again. That would probably jolt me into action.

Metaphorical thinking

My UU Christian Circle is using a progressive Christian curriculum called Living the Questions to guide our discussions each month. It is a set of DVD's with several people of note (including John Shelby Spong and Marcus Borg to name just two) who have much to say about finding a place in Christianity for those of us who question dogma and doctrine but long for the message.

Yesterday we had a discussion about thinking literally/critically (the need to determine the factual historical accuracy of a story) versus finding the truth of the story thru metaphor. It seems that all of the women in our group have moved beyond the need to "prove it" and into the acceptance of the truth of the metaphors. It is like passing through a set of large doors that opens you up to a whole new spirituality.

There was a time in my life that I was very much into the critical stage of thinking and, as a result, I totally rejected Christianity. There cannot be a man in the sky watching us, virgin births are impossible, people don't rise from the dead, etc. It wasn't until I was 36 years old that I was able to see past all that and realize that those stories and ideas do hold truth in the metaphoric sense. As soon as I realized that, I wanted to go back and reread the bible and see all of those stories through a new lens. Once I did that it really was as if I was "born again".

I am often frustrated that my two older sons have trouble with my new relationship with God and Christianity. But then after our UU Christian Circle discussion yesterday, I realized that they are both still stuck in the literal stage of looking at things. They don't think a person can walk on water so Mom must be crazy to buy into all of that. To them, there is no other way of seeing things. I need to be patient, expose them to different ways of understanding the story, and let God do his/her work with them.

New Vegetarian New Year's Day menu

I usually serve corned beef and cabbage on New Year's Day. I don't really know why. It's just what we always did in my family when I was growing up. It probably points way back to my ethnic heritage. But usually I was the only one who ate it. And while I like cabbage when cooked the right way, corned beef was never my favorite meat. Very fatty and it just tastes like it is bad for you.

Last week after Christmas, we stopped in at a Borders bookstore and I went searching for a family vegetarian cookbook. I've been wanting one for a while now and since I didn't get one as a Christmas gift, I took matters into my own hands. I ended up buying Nava Atlas' Vegetarian Family Cookbook.

In the past I've had issues getting my two youngest boys in particular to get on board with some of my vegetarian recipes. My husband and teenager are already won over to vegetarian eating and generally like whatever I make. The 11 and 6 year old, on the other hand, are quick to sneer and say "yuck".

So the day after I bought the cookbook I made her Classic Vegetarian Chili and it was a success. Everyone liked it and we had leftovers for the next day. I was excited about the new cookbook.

Fast-forward to New Year's Day. Big J requested an Asian stir-fry meal. So using my new cookbook, I decided to make Asian Noodles with Stir-Fried Corn and Cabbage and I paired it with Orange-Glazed Tofu and Broccoli. Even my 6yo ate his dinner! I was amazed.

It was funny. After we'd been eating for a while, we were talking about how it was pretty good. My 15yo completely cleared his plate, my husband cleared his plate, I was almost completely done and my two younger boys had made serious dents in what they'd eaten. I was commenting on the cabbage in the noodle dish and my 11yo informed me he didn't like cabbage. I looked at his plate and noticed that cabbage was about the first thing he'd eaten! There was none left on his plate. I told him it must have been the way I cooked it. ;-)

Approaching Advent

Advent is a religious season that is not even practiced by all Christians let alone your average UU. However, as my faith has evolved, I have found the liturgy of intentional practice during both Advent and Lent to be very fulfilling. This will be the third year that I've practiced Advent in my home and each year I "tweak" the process. Our Advent observation is very UU in orientation. I have gathered various reflections and readings from sources on the internet and have compiled them into something that works for our family.

December 2, 2007 is the first Sunday of Advent this year. In preparation for Advent, I make an advent wreath to place as a centerpiece in our family's dining table. I use a regular wreath I've bought at a Christmas supply shop (fake so I can reuse it each year although a real one would work as well). Inside the wreath I place four taper candle holders (one for each Sunday of Advent). In the center of the wreath I place a white pillar candle to be lit only on Dec. 24. On each Sunday of Advent, after dinner I will have some sort of dessert during which we will have our Advent focus. On the first Sunday, we will light one candle, recite some lines together, and then I will share the focus of the day. Then we will have a reflection for that day.

I really feel that since we have begun observing Advent as a family, the holiday season has become less about consumerism and "give me, give me" and more about the thoughtful and joyful celebration that we get through our faith and a reminder to reach out and be God's hands in the world.

Vegetarian Families

Now that our life is getting back onto a more even keel (knock on wood) we are trying to practice vegetarianism more. My 15 year old is the most devout vegetarian in the family. He has consistently been vegetarian since about last April. The rest of us, however, have not been very good at avoiding meat lately. To be honest, we have had to make use of some charitable food sources and have found them to be heavy on the meat. The saying, "Beggars can't be choosers," immediately comes to mind.

But as we have more power to decide for ourselves what we eat, I am trying to merge back onto the vegetarian highway. ;-)

I have a small collection of recipes that I can fall back on. But generally, I have found that most of my veggie recipes don't go over well with the kids. I look at vegetarian websites and vegetarian cookbooks and find recipes that are just not very tasty to kids. Now, as an adult, I often love the recipes. But if I have to listen to complaining during every meal or watch my son's pants slide down on him and see his ribs because he's so thin, I need to find something else.

There especially seems to be a dearth of plain old vegetarian websites. The "in" thing seems to be vegan. Hey, at this point, I'm doing well just to get my kids to cut out meat - I'm not ready to push it.

And I do admit to being more than a little put off at the holier-than-thou tone on some of the websites. Contrary to what some may think, meat eaters are not bad or even stupid. Different people have different opinions. A little more respect for that reality would be welcome, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, I've added a few links to my blog over on the right side of the page. I'm hoping to find some good resources to jumpstart our veggie eating again. If any of my readers knows of a good website or can recommend a family-friendly veggie cookbook, please leave me a comment. Thanks!

"October's poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter" - Nova Bair

The woods in October in Indiana, I think, are at their best. The leaves whose greens blend together in summer, become defined in shades of gold, orange, red, yellow, brown. With each passing breeze a few stray leaves begin their slow glide to the ground. Acorns litter the ground, waiting for the wildlife to gather them up.

Last week we had Fall Break at school so we decided to take one last camping trip before the weather turns too cold. This time we went to Yellowwood State Forest in southern Indiana. Camping in October is so different from camping in May or June or July. We dressed in layers, huddling around the campfire at night out of necessity. Temperature ratings on sleeping bags were put to the test this time. And when we woke in the morning, our breath was visible until the sun warmed us up again. Instead of cold drinks and hot dogs, this time around we prefered beef stew for dinner and oatmeal with hot chocolate for breakfast.

As much as I love camping and hiking in the early summer and identifying spring wildflowers, I have to admit that I really love autumn camping too. There is nothing like a scary ghost story told while huddled for warmth around a campfire in October.

Before I go I want to show you the view of the lake on Saturday morning as the sun rose behind the trees before the morning fog had burned off. A more beautiful sight I cannot imagine...

"God works in mysterious ways"

I remember hearing people say, "God works in mysterious ways," and not really getting it. I have now come to the conclusion that God works in a way that isn't at all mysterious. I believe we (human beings) are the hands of God and through us he moves and creates and sustains the world.

As you've probably noticed, I haven't been around the blog world much lately. Uumomma even emailed me recently to check in on me because I'd been feeling low when last I was posting a lot. I'm popping in tonight to let everyone know that my absence from the blogosphere isn't really due to an emotional low (thank God), but rather the hectic life that this time of year usually brings. As the kids get older it gets even more busy.

In the past six weeks I have:
1. subbed almost daily in one particular elementary school
2. led five Cub Scout meetings including a hike to earn Forester badges
3. dropped off and picked up from band practice kid #1 sixteen times
4. chaperoned 5 day-long high school marching band contest trips
5. taken kid #2 to 5 soccer practices
6. taken kid #3 to the public library 4 times
7. attended 6 Saturday morning soccer games
8. attended church 6 times (one of those times teaching RE)
9. attended one UU Christian Circle meeting
10. attended two band parents' association meetings
11. attended one Boy Scout Court of Honor/pitch-in picnic
12. delivered kid #1 to two separate weekend parties

Basically, I have been going 7 days a week for at least 4 weeks and the couple of weeks prior to that was almost that busy. On top of that, we have computer wars at my house. I have kid #3 wanting to play Reader Rabbit or Sesame Street games, kid #2 wanting to play Jedi Academy or look up Pokemon info online, kid #1 wanting to chat with his friends on myspace or facebook, and husband wanting to catch up on blogs, email, or myspace. My computer time is so limited, blogging has become a luxury. But soccer and marching season are ending soon, so hopefully I'll be back again soon.

Keeping busy has been a blessing. It has done two things: 1. It keeps me from dwelling on our financial problems and my difficulty finding a job. 2. It reminds me what is really important in life. One warm Saturday afternoon as I sat on the sidelines watching my son belt out part of the marching band show at the climax of the music, I was moved to tears. Those are the moments I live for. No creditor or possible employer can ever take away from me the joy I felt at watching my son perform. What food we did or didn't have at home didn't matter one bit in that moment.

An interesting thing has happened over the last month or so. We have been sustained. As I said at the beginning of this post, I believe God moves on this earth through the hands of the people around us. At a time when I often wondered where our next meal would come from or how we would have enough gas to get to work until payday, little things started happening. Friends and family would do small "coincidental" things that helped to sustain us and get us through. For example, one day at work, a coworker of Big J's asked him if we'd be interested in some meat for some Philly Beef Steak sandwiches. Apparently he and his girlfriend had gotten some and didn't care for it so offered it to us as a gift. Unsolicited by us. They had no idea that we'd been trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Several other similar things happened around that same time when we were at rock bottom. I really believe that God sustained us.

We are not out of the woods. Things are still tight, but we are recovering. And I have more good news. Last week, the principal came up to me and offered me a 10-week maternity leave. It isn't a full-time job, but it is a stepping stone. Not having a maternity leave has been an obstacle in my way preventing me from getting an interview in the past. So I am turning a corner.

My faith has been strengthened by this hardship. And every day I thank God.

Feeling strength from attending church

We have rededicated ourselves as a family to attending church regularly. We'd gotten out of the habit over the last several months (prior to summer to be honest). As a result, we are feeling strengthened.

This past weekend we made ourselves go to church even though we'd been running all weekend without a break. We'd had two soccer games Saturday morning, a marching band competition Saturday afternoon/evening, my mother-in-law came and spent the night after the marching band competition and we had a Boy Scout awards picnic scheduled for Sunday afternoon. It would have been nice to sleep in. But we went anyway.

And even though we were tired, I don't think any of us minded going. This week the service was entitled Reason and Reverence. It was much more Humanist than last week's discussion about the bible. But it was presented as a bridge between the two. It is obvious that our minister is trying to bridge the gap between the Humanists and the Spiritualists in our congregation. Frankly, there were parts of the service where I realized I was zoning out and hadn't heard what had been said. All the scientific talk and worship of knowledge just kind of runs dry with me. But I sat there alongside Big J who enjoyed it much more than me. I figured, last week was my week, this week is his week.

But after the service I was able to talk to so many friends. That made it all worthwhile to me. There have been times when I'd go to coffee hour and not find one single soul to talk to. That's a terribly lonely feeling to be in a room full of people and have no one talk to you. But the last couple of weeks I have run into several different friends and we connected about the service or our kids in RE or outside concerns. That is a wonderful feeling.

Another wonderful thing about church lately is what I'm seeing in my kids. Little J still won't attend so we leave him at home. He's old enough to make up his own mind and I refuse to force him. But the younger two we always take. They may grumble a little, but we take them. Well, lately they are grumbling much less. Both boys already knew some of the kids in their classes, but they are building friendships.

E is in 5th grade and in our church the 5th/6th grade class is sort of a transition between the younger kids' RE and the junior/senior high youth groups. They are given more independence, they are treated more like young adults, and they are given their first social justice projects to work on. As a result, their behavior improves so much. It is like they feel like they are being taken seriously. So E has been hanging out with 5-6 boys in his class and they run around in a pack. It is so cool to see since E is normally a shy child.

Meanwhile, until this week I hadn't been able to get D to attend his K class without me. I'd walk him out into the social hall after the Children's Focus for him to meet his teachers and walk to his classroom. But he'd cling to me. And once we got to the classroom he'd insist I stay. It was often 15-20 minutes before I managed to sneak out and head back to the adult service. BUT! This week as he met his class and they started to walk over, he waved and started walking on his own! I couldn't believe it! Then after the service when I went to pick him up, they were all sitting at the little tables having snack and he was sitting there telling jokes to the other kids sitting around him. And he was having so much fun with the other kids that I had trouble getting him to leave!

We are off to such a good start this year and I am so relieved and excited about it.

Permanent solution to a temporary problem

Last night around 8:30 our phone rang and the sobbing voice was almost unintelligible. It was Little J's girlfriend. A classmate of theirs had just committed suicide. Within minutes, Little J and I jumped in the van and as we left the neighborhood we stopped by and picked up Little J's best friend. I drove them the half a mile to the church the boy had attended. There was already a huge group congregated in the sanctuary - most of them teenagers and youth leaders.

Apparently the boy had come home from school yesterday and had an argument with his mom. Angry words were said and he went into the bathroom and hanged himself. The kids are shocked and devestated. He was a well-liked and friendly kid.

I remember him from elementary school. He was often in Little J's classes.

Of course, I immediately think of the parents. The thought of losing a child, especially under these circumstances, is mind boggling. I've been praying for the family and all the friends who are now walking around dazed and trying to cope. Such a terrible loss.

It all starts now

This morning as I sat in the warm and humid sun of the soccer field, I was overcome by a feeling that "it all starts now". Everything. From now on. It starts now, in this minute.

I know, I know. Duh. On the surface this seems like an obvious thing to say. But is it really. How often do we go through life basing today and our thoughts for tomorrow on what has come before? It's an easy trap to fall into and I'd bet most people do it. We expect today and tomorrow to be like yesterday. In thinking those things we limit ourselves. We're limiting our future based on our memories or even perceptions of the past.

Two things came together this morning at about the same time that moved me to this awareness. First, my 11yo son played his soccer game. Now he has played soccer since he was 5. He has never been what you would call assertive athletically. For the first several years when he'd play, he'd jog around the rest of the players from a safe distance without ever really risking coming in contact with the ball himself. :-) Gradually he got to the point where he'd kick the ball if it happened to come to him and there wasn't another player bearing down on him. Today in his second game of this season I saw a different child. He was running with the ball, passing it to other players, and if someone tried to steal it from him, he held his ground and kept control of the ball. He has improved so much from the 5yo who wouldn't kick the ball. My husband pointed out that that is because now he believes in himself. He believes he can do it and so he does. He's let go of the memories of the boy who was afraid to kick the ball and opened himself up to the possibility of being someone who can defend the ball and control it. I don't care if he ever scores or if he makes the high school team or anything like that. But overcoming self-doubt is huge and is more than worth the entry fee we pay each year for him to play.

I also felt freed from limiting thoughts as I sat on the sidelines and watched him running up and down the field. I had just come from the post office where I mailed off four packets of application materials in my continuing job search. I had been closer than ever to giving up. Over the last couple of weeks I had almost decided I wasn't going to put myself through the repeated rejection and disappointment of not getting yet another job.

But something strange happened this week. On Thursday I shared with a teacher friend my hopelessness and difficulty in finding a job. She was able to show me a new website that I hadn't been aware of. On that website we found that the next school district over from ours had just advertised four elementary teaching positions the day before. Now, if you aren't in the elementary education world in the American midwest, you may not realize how unusual this is. Open positions are next to impossible to find, let alone *four* positions just down the road just posted the day before I connected with this friend and over a week *after* school already started. So I spent my Friday evening getting all of my application materials ready for each of the four positions and this morning I mailed them off.

I feel really good about this effort. Something just feels different this time. And as I sat on the soccer field this morning, I realized I had been limiting myself by self-doubt based on past failures.

But it all starts now. This is a new effort put out into the world. Something totally new could come from this. I'm going to stop thinking about what has already happened (or not happened as the case may be) and open myself up to future possibilities.

Turn, turn, turn, turn...for everything there is a season...

My youngest child started kindergarten today. It is a time of changing seasons. The season of my life that included sippy cups, board books, afternoon naps (to name a few) is gone. At least until I babysit my grandkids someday. :-) All three of my boys are now in school.

Even though he doesn't realize it, my son's life is changing too. He will begin to realize that there is a bigger world out there. His friends' and teachers' ideas and opinions will begin to rival his dad's and mine. I'm not sad about this. It's actually kind of exciting. It's all part of him growing up and growing into the man he'll be someday. I'm looking forward to taking the journey with him.

Basil, dill, and Kurt Vonnegut

Today we took advantage of our last free Saturday for the next two months to drive down to Bloomington, Indiana, home of our alma mater, Indiana University. We stopped by the farmer's market which was absolutely hopping with vendors and customers and musicians and artists. What a great place to spend a hot Saturday morning in August. My favorite things about farmer's markets are the smell of basil, the smell of dill, and the burst of color from the bundles of flowers. I usually grow basil in my own garden, but didn't put any out this year and the smells from the farmer's market reminded me just how much I miss it.

Before we left, we stopped at Bloomingfoods, which is a grocery store that focuses on organic and natural produce and is just chock full of UU-types. Anyway, we don't have anything like it close to home so I love to visit when we're in town.

Then we took the two younger boys to campus. We parked and walked all over the place and went into various buildings. Being the geek that I am, the highlight of the trip for me was a trip into the stacks of the main library where I pulled a bound volume from 1992 off the shelf and found my own handwriting inside from back when I used to work there in technical services. That was very cool. If anyone visits the IU Library and looks inside of journals cataloged between 1990 and 1995, you may see my handwriting on the verso of the title page. See, doesn't that make you giddy with excitement?

Anyway, we also noticed that the Lilly Library (which houses rare books and archives) has a temporary exhibit about Kurt Vonnegut which includes some of his manuscripts, rejection letters and who knows what else. My husband has provided info and a link on his blog. If you are a Kurt Vonnegut fan, you might want to check it out.

How was your summer?

I can't believe it is here already - the last weekend of summer. We start back to school next week. Today I have to take Little J by the high school to pick up his new schedule for this year. Then I have to take all the boys to Target to shop for school supplies. This year all 3 boys will be in school as D is starting kindergarten. Woo hoo!

Earlier this week I took D to a kindergarten orientation program at his school and while there I ran into several teachers who are setting up their classrooms and preparing the first couple of weeks of lessons. Everyone asks the standard question: How was your summer? The standard answer: Too short.

I was thinking about the longer, more truthful answer to that question. How was my summer?

Well, the first part was miserable. After about two weeks of vacation I was climbing the walls. I was stuck here in the house most days and because I don't work in the summer, money was tighter than tight. I did manage to take the boys to the pool a few times and we did some little things, but it was very much a dry spell. I stopped going to church because most of the services were lay-led which (sorry to be honest) usually don't do much for me and I often feel that it isn't worth the gas money to drive 35 minutes to church and 35 minutes home again. And my UU Christian Circle was not able to meet this summer. I felt so isolated that I really could have used a couple of meetings to connect with people. I felt like I spent the first 6 weeks or so of summer standing at the door with a broom in my hand beating back the demon of "depression" who refused to leave my house.

Then by mid-July things took a turn. I became incredibly busy. Even though we really didn't have the money (a recipe for stress, by the way) we went on our vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pigeon Forge, TN, and Gatlinburg, TN. We were there for 5 days and even though we didn't have much money to spend, we had a great time. We spend so much time going through the everyday rat race of work and school routines that we sometimes lose sight of simply living our lives. Taking a vacation - even a cheap, small-scale one - reminds us of the things that are really important.

Well, we came home from vacation in time for my brother's housewarming party. He and his wife just moved into a new-to-them house with their two kids so they invited all their friends and family to celebrate. It was a great time, a great house, and a rare opportunity to connect with other people.

Between vacation and the housewarming party, there was barely enough time to get the laundry all caught up before band camp week. Little J had band camp all day every day at the high school. I also had band camp as one of the "band moms" in charge of feeding the kids. I did it as a volunteer and got absolutely nothing monetarily out of it, but I did it to be more involved. I have to say it was, maybe, the best time I had all summer. It became less about the band and the kids and more about me having fun playing and making friends with other moms and dads. Most of the time we were there, the band was either outside practicing or somewhere else in the high school practicing music. I spent most of my time with the other parents either preparing the food or decorating. At the end of the week we even had an ice fight where we chased each other around with ice. We acted silly and laughed, we got excited about the decorations and music. We wore silly pirate costumes one day and bikini t-shirts another. We had fun. I was actually sad to see the week end even though it was totally exhausting. There is always next year.

Then as soon as band camp week was over, we had our annual local town fair complete with parade (in which the band marched) and a 3-day carnival at the town park. I volunteered to work in one of the tents sponsored by the band parents' association. This time I got credit for my work that will help defray the cost of Little J's band fees. But I also had a lot of fun. In addition to hanging out with the band parents again, I was in a location where I saw all kinds of people I know as they walked past our tent.

As the fair came to a close, I was left with exactly a week before school starts. Time to stock up on pencils and notebooks and practice going to bed earlier again. My job search has once again reared its head and it looks like I will be subbing again this year as I was not lucky enough to nab a real position yet. But I am trying not to let it get me down and to stay positive for the future.

So how was my summer? It was a summer of extremes. The first part of the summer was terribly isolating and lonely. The second part of the summer was frantically busy, but full of connections that fed my soul. I can learn from this and remember it next summer when I'm faced with 2 1/2 months of isolation. In May when school ends, I need a couple of weeks to relax and unwind. But by mid-June I need to find ways to get out there and be with people. Late summer is easy because there is always the band and fair stuff. I have to figure out something to occupy my time from mid-June to mid-July. I'll take this memory with me into the new year.

And I'll still tell people my standard answer: "Summer was too short."

Vacation

OK, I'll admit I had an ulterior motive for disappearing for a few days. We took the family on a little vacation. Guess where we went...



Yes, we have just returned from Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Over the next several days I plan to make several blog posts about various aspects of the trip. We packed a lot into only 5 days. Stay tuned.

And by the way, I am still not finished with Harry Potter! We've had so much fun vacationing that we haven't had as much time to read as I'd hoped. But I'm working on it.

Blessings of family

I have been blessed with a gift that is becoming more and more rare in our society - a family in close proximity. My parents, my brother and his family, my sister and her family, my aunts and uncles and cousins and their families, all live within a 30 minute drive of each other. Only my grandfather has moved to Florida.

This afternoon we had a family get-together in honor of the fact that my Floridian grandfather is up visiting for two weeks. My aunt and uncle hosted the get-together and there was a huge buffet table of dishes we all contributed. We ate, caught up with cousins we hadn't seen since Christmas, declared how big all the kids were getting, met the new boyfriend and girlfriend of my single young adult cousins, played croquet in the backyard, watched all the second cousins running around in packs playing "ninjas", and oohed and ahed over my uncle's manmade pond.

I look at my cousin who is a mom of a 6yo boy and a 4yo girl and see how frazzled she is as a full-time mom and remember when she was 8 years old and used to play barbie dolls with my sister. I see my 6 foot tall, 200 lb. male cousin with the beard and the girlfriend and I remember when he was 4 and my brother used to play with him by holding him upside down while he squealed in delight. I see my 84 year old grandfather who is more stooped-over and frail looking each time I see him and remember when his hair was a lot darker and his step was a little lighter when we were still kids and he still lived in Indianapolis and my grandmother was still alive. We'd go to their house almost every Sunday for dinner. We were a close family. We are a close family. I know that no matter what the world throws at me and throughout all the ups and downs of life, I will always have my family. I am blessed.

Here is my grandfather and his nine great-grandchildren.

Cub Scout Day Camp 2007

You may have noticed I've been away from the blog world for a few days. I have been spending the week at Cub Scout Day Camp. My middle son will be a second-year Webelo this year. In scouting terms, that means this is his last summer as a Cub Scout before he bridges up into Boy Scouts. Our local council reserves one of the area city parks and all of its shelter houses for three days every summer and invites Cub Scouts (ages 6-11) to come to Day Camp where they do things like archery (that's my son with the bow and arrow in the picture), shooting BB guns, fishing, swimming, making crafts, playing games, singing songs, and so on. Southern Indiana is very hilly and 3 days of going up and down the hill in the park really wore out this old den leader. But everyone had a great time and I'm sure it was a highlight of my son's summer.