Dirt: Close Family

April Update... see March List.

We are counting down the days of attendance until the end of school for both girls (30 days for one and 24 for the other). Ellie started driving and is now running all over town, having fun.  Our family life is shifting a little bit.

We are a close family. I always joke that we could downsize to a house with just 7 rooms (2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, kitchen and living room) and one sofa and we would not notice. We spend so much time in our kitchen that we really could just have the television in the kitchen and do away with the living room.

The past few weeks, I feel closer to the girls. Maybe it is the impending change. Maybe it is seasonal, but I enjoy them so much lately. I am frustrated by them, sure. Fights with mom are easy to pick and I am an easy target. However, I am thrilled that we are so close.

Boyfriends 

Best friends

I have friends who are as close to their daughters and I think that is part of the success of our relationships. The girls see the other dynamics and know it is a settling thing to have your parents close. I feel sad for the girls who hide EVERYTHING from their parents. I do not for one second think mine don't hide things from me. However, I know a lot and am privy to secrets that other moms are not.

I love being a mom. I never thought I would want to be one. I thought I wanted to travel and live a big life. One without kids. However, my life is large because I have these amazing women in it and I would not change  a thing.

March: List Update

March was a blur of fun and anticipation. My daughter spent the first few weeks waiting by her computer for her college acceptance. The proverbial mailbox if you will. After months of writing, being recruited, reading up and dreaming about schools, she finally got the news. The week started off sad with a no thank you to her dream school, one she had been recruited for rowing, but who only accepted 5% of the 22,000 students who applied. Then a wait list and another no. All to her top schools.

The sun started shining by the end of the week and she had 5 additional acceptances (she had been admitted to an SEC school in the fall). All of them gave her money, several gave a large amount and she had choices to make.



In the meantime we flew to Chicago with college friends and their kids to see Hamilton! Holy cow, that was a dream. I had purposely kept away from the media, plot and music of the play so that I would be in the moment the entire time. A boy that went to high school here that we saw perform for years was one of the lead characters, making it even more of a special night. The show blew me away and I am now constantly humming songs in my head.



March was a dream.

                                                   2017 The List

• Read 100 books 22 and counting 
• Join an exercise group of some sort (social) 
• Take a class of some sort every quarter So far...Pure Barre and Vive, next up 9 Rounds 
• Get my home office cleaned up I am sitting at a clean (ish) desk
• Run a race with friends (Ragnar, relay marathon, something) Signed up 
• Spend more time with my girlfriends (Dominique, Ann, Toni, Debbie Sue, Lisa, Stacey, Cindy...) Have let it drop these past few weeks. But I have plans this weekend. 
• Take a trip with Steve somewhere neither of us has been Fall 
• Do one thing that really scares me every quarter (this will be easy, I am terrified of a lot of things.... mostly to do with water)  Still nothing. Can't really think of much. 
• Resume the dates with Delaney and Ellie  Check
• Spend more time with my parents  Not so much 
• Spend more time with Steve's parents  Dinners with Steve's  mom every other Sunday 
• Attend church more regularly  Not yet. 
• Volunteer every quarter  other than at GPS  Not even that :(