Days Gone By

I have been unusually busy and a little sick the last few days, the mess on my desk testifies to that, but I don't want to miss blogging on the last few days.

Friday


My little boy turned seven.

We took him to California Adventure where we all rode the big rides together – all day. He had a special Disney button with his name and age, and all day people called out “Happy Birthday!” as we walked by.

I have taken the kids to DisneyLand several times in the past couple years, but this was the first time Kip has been with us in a long time, and this was the first time all of us could ride the “fun” rides together.

At one point I actually heard Kip say, “I love this place!”

If I could pick a handful of near-perfect days to keep forever, this would be one of them.





Saturday

Jon, my marathon running friend, and I went on our last big run before the marathon. We ran 16 miles this time. The fact that I want to say, “only 16,” reminds me of how far I have come, both physically and mentally. It wasn’t too long ago that 10 seemed forever. Having a regular Saturday morning training run has really helped me to be faithful to the training. I wonder if I would have gotten this far without it.

But I am still nervous about the big day. We are down to 12 days before the marathon, and I still wish I had another month to train. But maybe I would never feel ready to take on the big 26.2.

Let’s just pray for cool weather.

Sunday

Mother’s Day I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy head, so I pretty much did nothing all day. I missed my mom and felt sorry for myself.

The highlight of the day was cleaning off the kids’ toyshelf. I filled seven Trader Joe’s bags full of books, games and toys to give away at our homeshcoolers’ curriculum swap.

I grieved over a couple sentimental items and the years that have slipped past, but overall, the cleaner shelves were worth it.

Monday

The kids did “school,” in the morning and then we rushed around, getting to park day and then to a new acting class at a local community theater playhouse. The kids loved the class and my 10-year-old seemed to take it very seriously, especially the drama games that involved stomping around and acting angry. For a brief moment I wondered if we should be encouraging this behavior….

Tuesday

I went to a year-end brunch to conclude the Community Bible Study that I have been attending every Tuesday morning since September. The ladies at the church decorated the tables in a garden club theme, and several of the women wore their Sunday hats. It was a humorous contrast to the rest of my world, and yet at the “sharing” time, I found myself blubbering in front of 100 women about how much these Tuesday mornings have meant to me and how it has been like spending the morning with my “grandmother, mother and aunts…”

And it has.

Then in the afternoon we went to the “after party,” our weekly rendezvous at the park. The kids of course did what they always do -- climbed trees, invented new games and generally ran all over the playground. I said good-bye to two new friends who are moving on to other parts of the world. I haven’t known them long, but I’ll miss them.

Just some of the kids briefly gathered together for a group photo ... and some people wonder if our homeschooled kids ever "socialize" with other kids.

Wednesday

Today the kids and I left our little urban life and headed to the woods in Topanga Canyon to see a presentation of Julius Caesar at the Will GeerTheatricum Botanicum. It was amazing, although I am sure a bit over their heads. Next time we will have to do a better job of preparation. We went through the basic story several times, but after the pivotal scene on the Senate floor, my son leaned over and whispered, “Why did they kill that guy?”

I had to turn off the part of my head that goes into an in depth dialog about roman history, government, motive and human nature and I just said, “He wanted to be king.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right.”

I know that is not entirely accurate, at least it wasn’t a satisfying answer for me. But there is plenty of time for expounding … later. It is ok to leave some learning experiences for tomorrow.