Over the fence with ease.

People without children may not understand this.......people with children will get what I am talking about.  These are simple lessons that as a parent we must learn and sometime we learn them in a way we might not like.  We love you Jon, Stacey, and Scott, Thanks for a wonderful dinner!!

We were invited to go out to dinner last Saturday with some friends.   It was a Facebook invitation sent out a couple weeks ago.   We RSVP'd  2+ a high chair.  We were excited.  We had not seen them and they had not seen Carter in a while.  So it was going to be fun to catch up. 

Friday morning, the day before the dinner, I got a text from one of them saying, their sister would watch Carter if we wanted a break.  I took this as a big "hint" that maybe Carter was not invited to the party. 

Lesson # 1  As a parent if you are invited to an event, it is your job and obligation to see if children are allowed to join in the festivities. 

So we found a sitter for Saturday night.  No big deal just a little short notice.  The people we were having dinner with came down early for the spring football game. Yeah I live in a state where the Spring Scrimmage of the big college football team is like any other game day, complete with tailgated and a sell out crowd of 86,000 plus.  


 So we were at home doing laundry and other odd jobs until it was time to get ready.    At 4:20, dinner was at 6:30, Peter got a text that the game was over and they were on their way over.  I had just woken up from a nap and Carter was still sleeping. Ten minutes later the door bell rings, the dog starts barking, and Carter wakes up.  I still in my P.J.'s, hair piled on my head and not a lick of make-up, go to the door, because Peter is in the shower.   I open the door and shocked, no more like stunned, faces greet me.   

"Uhh..we totally woke you up didn't we?  You had no idea we were coming. Did we wake up Carter? " the three of them say pretty much in unison.  The other couple, Whom I had never met surveyed me in wary silence. 

"Nope, I just found out 10 minutes ago. Carter was asleep but is awake now.  Peter is in the shower, I need to shower too.  Come on in!" I reply. 

"We need to go to the book store, we will go  and meet you later."  The three of them again in unison say some version of that.  

"No no, come on in it is fine you drove all the way out here.  Come in."  I insist.  

"No we will just go to the book store.   Then we will head over and get a table.  Do you think you can come earlier like 5:30?"  Again not sure which one said all this so we will just say all of them. 

Lesson #2  Deep breathing is an excellent practice to start early.  Lamaze is not only good for labor but also good to stay calm when things are going awry while you raise your children.

"Uhhhh....I will have to call the sitter and see if we can drop him off earlier.  Then I will text you and let you know."  I say

"Oh... yeah yeah,  just let us know.  We will probably have to wait for a table anyway."  they say.

"Ok well, thanks guys we will see you in a bit."  I say as they leave and I close the door.  So we now have less than an hour for me to shower, get ready, load up the car, take carter to the sitter and get to the restaurant.  (Then began a flurry of activity) So we drop Carter off at the sitter an make it back down town by shortly after 6. (by some miracle it was even that early)  Dinner was great, the food was good, the conversation was excellent and the company was fun.  We love our friends and wish we could get together with them more, but alas they live in a different town, so it is not as often as we would like.   


As dinner is wrapping up we begin talk of what to do next....should we go grab a drink at Starlight or go to Yia Yia's and play some pool and try one of their vast varieties of imported beer.   During this talk the couple who came to my home that I did not know are sitting across the table in close conversation.  (I must inject here that I had never met these people and only briefly enjoyed their company through dinner.  I hold no ill will toward them as I don't know them well enough to have any sort of opinion of them.)    Once the decision was made to head to Yia Yia's we get the bill and begin to gather our things.  The couple suddenly pipe in and say "We would actually like to get home." 


Silence from the other side of the table as Peter, myself and our friends digest what was said.  They had driven down together so that meant they would all be leaving. Bummer.   So the evening turned out to be dinner with them and then Peter and I going out for a drink.  It was a nice little date for us  and turned out to be really fun.  


Lesson #3  When it comes to the best laid plans, things often never go the way you think they will and it is better just to roll with.   

And the Thunder Rolls

On Thursday we had the first real "spring" rain.  The kind of rain that you want to stand outside in.    The kind you can smell.  The kind that makes everything smell....fresh.  I love that kind of rain.   See how beautiful, the sun barely peeking through the clouds. 

It was great until Friday morning when the temperature plummeted and it continued to rain....and rain....and get colder to where it was actually sleeting. Not completely unheard of in April for the Cornhusker State, and yet just as miserable.  I had to drive in this rain...eeww!

The only good thing about the rain is that the flowers will soon be popping out.

Not this one though,  this is one from a bouquet I bought.  It was lovely.

This is Carter waving to me at daycare. We have had a rough week and Mommy needed that. 

It's not all Sunshine and Daisies

When I was little my Grandpa affectionately called me Shorty and Turkey Butt.  He would wander around the kitchen or the house singing little songs and working, listening to whatever conversation was going on in the same room and chiming in when he had something to add. He wil be  72 this year and has worked hard all his life.  He was in the National Guard for 20+ years, so he knows the value of hard work.  When he retired, he didn't really retire, he got a job with the school system cleaning. He has recently "retired" from that job but still works little odd jobs, and volunteers his mowing skills.

It was 9 years last Monday that we lost Grandma.  Grandma and Grandpa were high school sweet hearts, married at 18, they had 5 awesome children.  Those children went on to give them numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. (Some more than others, you know who you are, we have had several conversations about how this happens.)   Grandpa loved my grandma fiercely, passionately.  When she passed, a part of him with went her.  He changed a lot, but when you love someone as much as he loved her, you would expect that. It was hard on all of us.  

It took him years to do some of the things that they enjoyed doing together.  Grandpa now has a lady friend that he goes to movies and dinner with.    You don't hear him sing much anymore.  He goes to the cemetary at least once a day to sit and talk to grandma.   There is a path worn in the  grass at the cemetary where he walks to see her.   

I think about grandma alot.  I think about the things she has not been present for.  She was there in spirit but not physically.  I can still hear her laugh and I know that she visits me often.  (Yeah I am one of those people who believes that you can do that after you die.  I have to believe it.) 

While we were bowling this weekend Grandpa called me Shorty, something he has not done in years.  It pulled at my heartsrings alittle and I won't lie,  I threw a gutter ball that shot because I was a little blurry eyed.   I miss the way Grandpa was before we lost Grandma but I know that he is the same guy, you just have to get past the gruff exterior and remember that he has been through a lot in the last few years.  

I love you both Grandpa and Grandma!