For Rent

The last couple of months have been consumed with finding places to rent and moving, and we're not done yet!

Not us, we're staying put. It would be a monumental task for us to move out of our home after almost 25 years.

Our kids.

Our son and his amazing girlfriend, along with their two GSDs have moved back to Paxton. We couldn't be happier. It's wonderful to see them every few days and to be able to share our lives more.

Finding them a home that would allow their sweet pups was a challenge.  Then, when we found one (this is the collective we, btw.) it was in need of a lot of work, which the landlords did.  However, this meant the four of them had to live with the five of us for a week.  Five adults, four German Shepherds (one a puppy), one house.  You get the picture!

After a month, they are now fairly settled in, although they appear to have an unwanted roommate - a mouse.  I expect he/she will be leaving shortly.

Now, it's our daughter's turn!  She moves out on Saturday. It's stressful.

She's only moving to Champaign, so I'm not worried about losing touch with her, we will still see her and I hope so comes home often, but it's still stressful.

I'm worried and excited all at the same time.  I want this adventure for her, I want her to keep moving forward with life, trying new things, making new friends etc.  I also know how scary it can be.

Planning out her time, budgeting her money, buying her groceries will all be hard things to do.  She won't have me nagging her to clean her room anymore, or asking her to do chores around the house. Those will all be things that are up to her, to do or not do, on her own schedule.  I hope she enjoys her freedom (not that she hasn't already got a lot of that), but I also hope she still calls me and asks for my advice on what to wear for this or that, or how do I make some meal or another, or just to chat.

My daughter is one of my best friends and its always hard when friendships move into a new season.
I'm sure we will adjust and our friendship will grow stronger for it. Like all things, it will take time.

Then there's the question of what do my husband and I do with only the two of us in the house?
It's been a long time, 23 years.  That's going to take some getting used to too.  It will be a new season for us as well.  Good thing we like each other :)

I'll be glad when all of this moving is done, when we all settle into our new routines and our lives turn out to be as busy as ever.

Why I Won't Be Crying at My Daughter's Graduation

I won't be crying tonight when my amazing daughter graduates from High School.  Don't get me wrong, I couldn't possibly be prouder of her; it's just not a time for tears.

I am more than ready for her to be done with High School and move on to the rest of her life, whatever that may be.

While the last four years were mostly good, there were some really bad times for her (and us) as well. We will miss the Show Choir and Marching Band and Concert Band, but we won't miss the bullying, drama and peer pressures.

It will be nice to get our weekends back.

I won't miss working all of the concession stands and ticket booths, or badgering folks to support this fund raiser or that.

I will miss the camaraderie we built with some of the other parents that were there in the trenches with us. I won't miss the ones who never left High School behind.

I'm lucky, our daughter will still be living with us next year, while she attends college. But that's not why I won't cry.

Our son moved out his Freshman year of college, that was four years ago.  We still see him about twice a month. We are thrilled that he still enjoys spending time with us and wants to remain part of our lives. Our daughter is the same way.

This is not an ending of our relationship, it is a moving forward of it. I'm not sad she's not my little girl any more, I'm happy she's my adult daughter who is also my friend.  She's still my baby, but she's also a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman who is kind and thoughtful and fun to hang out with.

I won't be crying because I'm happy she has the opportunity to move on, and that she chooses to remain a part of our family. I am excited for her for her new adventures and I am excited for us as well. I rejoice in the passing of this milestone for all of us.

Watch how we soar!

Faithful

There is nothing in this world more faithful than a dog.

Dog is God spelled backwards.

If we could have as much faith in God, as dogs have in us, we'd be better off.

Silence

I was having a really hard time coming up with something for this word.  Thus, my silence for the last day or so.  I finally googled "Silence", and after I convinced Google that I really meant "silence", not "Silence of the Lambs", I got a bunch of images like the one above.

Why is silence always depicted as being dark, cold and alone?

One of the best feelings I experience is when I can sit in silence with a friend and be totally at ease.

Enjoying silence is to enjoy the moment, to be present, not to worry about the future or the past.

Silence does not have to be dark, cold or lonely.  Remember, silence can be golden.

Spirit

This is what my Spirit looks like when I'm doing yoga.

This is NOT what my body looks like.

That's ok.

Where my Spirit goes, my body will follow.

Celebrate IV

On Sunday I cleaned up my cropping room.  It's time, past time really, to get crackin' on some projects with looming deadlines!

I need to finish Wolf's scrapbook from when he was here. I need to take the second, and final, volume to him when we visit in June.  The tough part of this project isn't so much the hundreds of photos to go through, it's that I'm making a duplicate album so we have one to keep.  It's a daunting task to say the least.

I also need to make Cora a scrapbook of her Senior Year, so we may display it at her Graduation party at the end of May. 

Yeah, I know it's March.

It's time to get to work to celebrate these amazing people and all the great things they do with their lives!

Procrastinators unite!

P.S. Anyone want to come scrap with me?

Endure

I was at a total loss for a picture for this word, then, I was washing my hands in the restroom at the doctor's office this morning, I looked up, saw this bottle of lotion, laughed and took it's picture. 

I'm not sure what "endure" has to do with hand lotion, but who am I to question it!

I don't have much to say on this subject, except that I don't really like this word. To me, it seems rather negative. Endure is something to wait out, not enjoy, not grow from, nothing positive. 

I do not wish to endure anything in life. I hope you don't either!