Wedding Times

It's still sort of everything, all the time, but mostly, it's the wedding times. Jeff and Ashlyn are here, along with the cutest baby girl I currently know. The guest space I carved out of the basement is working well. There's still more to do in terms of clearing things out, but I'm really pleased at what we made. I actually feel like I have a legitimate offer to make when people come to visit; an area where they can have some privacy and peace. There's a real bed, a comfy chair and light to read by. It's the best I could do right now, and I think it's enough.

read more

This Is Really Happening!

There is a sense of heightened everything in my life right now. From the mundane to the precious, it all seems exaggerated. 

This weekend, my 4th child and only daughter will be set apart from her peers and her usual pursuits and take on herself the role of full-time missionary. Thus the deeper meanings, this dissonance of temporary finality. It's not the end of anything, but it is the turning of a life's corner.  And so I notice that it's the last time for a while... the last time for this , the last time for that.

Probably the last time for a while Eric and I will be at a restaurant
with these two together (He's here, behind the camera).

Everything is happier. Or a tiny bit sadder. It's the 4th time I've sent off a missionary and you'd think I'd be better at it by now, more poised somehow, or less surprised at the tenderness, but it's like the first time every time because each child is so different. There is nothing routine about packing your child up to eventually travel nearly 5000 miles and live among strangers for 18 months. 

It's awesome in every way, because it's what she wants to do,  yet I'm reeling at the thought of her leaving. I'm so excited for her and all that she will both learn and accomplish, yet I'm not ready for her to go. I'm more than a little taken by surprise that her time at home can now be ticked off easily in hours rather than months or weeks or days. How does that always happen? I'm just going along, trying to keep up with the laundry and bills when, all of a sudden, wheeee! the roller coaster of my life goes down another giant hill and all I can do is put my hands in the air and give in to gravity. 

Swoop! 

She's had a long wait since her assignment came in June and she's worked hard to prepare. We have a few tasks left to complete, such as some last-minute mending and alteration of clothes, and choosing a coat and boots for cold times, but all she really has left to do is pack her suitcases.  

Now it's my turn to get ready. She asked me last night if I would cry. I gave my canned answer which is, "Not in your presence." She is not a cryer. She will keep all her butterflies on leashes, stride off and probably not even look behind her at the airport security gate. I, of course, will stay and watch until she goes through the line, then through the scanner and then walks down the concourse, until I really can't see her anymore. 

But not yet. I have a few more days to hear her laughter and be amazed by the person she's becoming right before my eyes as she rises to this very big occasion. That's the very best part of all and that I will enjoy. Every single minute. 

Swoop indeed!

read more

Pleasant Days

Lately, the days have been characterized by a lightening perhaps, or a slowing. Things have eased up and there is some margin around the edges of my comings and goings. It has been sweet to have 4 of the 5 children home for a brief time-to see their relationships now, as older siblings, and notice that, for the most part, they are good friends. Well, when they're not driving each other nuts of course. On top of all those good things, we've had days in a row of warm, spring weather that just can't help but lift the spirits. 

                                      

I'm getting to the end of my class at HCC and I am ticking off the number of images I have to have developed, printed and mounted by next Tuesday with a little bit of end-of-semester angst,  but even that work has been pleasanter than it was when everything was happening at once. I've made some new friends in the class and that helps me to look forward to those long hours in  the darkroom making print after print after print. It will get done, and maybe I'll have a few images worthy of showing off in this space. 

The concession stand at the high school is all but done for the season. I'll start to move things and get rid of the expired stuff and shut everything up for the summer, but that can be on my own time. This volunteer job has been a good learning experience, but I have to say it was it more than I bargained for, for poor pete's sake. I've told them I can't hold this particular position again next year, but hopefully I'll be able to help in some way, because I do like having my kids see me at the school, being involved in the community. This just took SO MUCH TIME-sometimes 10-12 hours a week, and that just felt like too much with Eric serving as Bishop and me taking classes. I really did like meeting new people and working hard, but I just need to not be in charge I think. I did do my best, though, and think I did a pretty good job, so that ends it on a very good note. 

My garden is off to a great start this year, thanks mostly to the fact that my pal without a garden is going to be my veggie-growing partner this year and what a difference it makes to have someone actually excited to do this work in the dirt! I tell my kids that the lettuce has sprouted and they glaze over just a bit, nice as they are. I tell her and she responds with genuine joy and excitement! So far, in addition to the lettuce, we have snow peas, zucchini, spinach and summer squash up and growing. This weekend I'll pick up some tomato plants at the Sheep and Wool Festival, and maybe a pepper or two, plant some cucumbers, and we'll be nearly set for now. We've already got parsley (self-sown from last year) and thyme (pretty much a perennial for me) up and ready to harvest, and the cilantro and dill self-sowed again last year and I've got tons of each.  These may not look like much now, but we planted them with our very own hands and it really is a kind of thrill to see them reach for the sun and want so very much to grow. 

Lettuce

Peas

Zucchini

Spinach

read more