Morning in Virginia

After a very late night, Austin and I are up early (of course!). He is playing airport on the coffee table while Robbo and Dad continue to sleep. We'll head into D.C. in a little while, with no serious plan, except to hit the highlights.

Oh, I do have a walking boot/aircast on my foot, so it's a bit easier to get around now painfree...

I'll post some pictures from the day later on.

Lows and Highs

I have our Christmas card name and addresses in an Excel document. Each year I try to update addresses through the year, but usually end up scurrying around to update the list at the end of November and throughout December. There are always names to add to the circle of family and friends and those who have died or I've just lost touch with.

This morning, I finally and painfully deleted a friend's name. After 22 years of friendship. I probably should have let go a few years earlier: but as many of us tend to do, I kept holding out hope that fences would be mended. It's finally time to let go and move on.

Reconciliation takes two. That stinks sometimes.

On a brighter note, the three men in my life and I are headed down to D.C. this afternoon for a little fun before the big race. Keep ya posted!

One Sentence Paragraphs

I updated both Robbo's and Austin's blogs recently.

It snowed for the first time this season yesterday.

The basketball team I coach won all three games we played this weekend!

I broke my big toe yesterday.

It hurts.

We leave for Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Robbo runs cross country at Nationals on Saturday.

Christmas is coming way too fast!

Just Around the Corner

It's only taken me a few years in New England to figure it out. When the "sticks" (as Austin calls them) go up on the fire hydrants, winter is just around the corner.

The sticks are up.

Life Is... A Series of Detours

Austin was playing independently for a few minutes this morning (I know, a minor miracle in and of itself!) with his construction toys. As I was eating my breakfast, he popped up on the bannister between the kitchen and the family room and held up a miniature road sign. "Mom. What does this say?" "It says, 'Men at Work'."

A couple of moments later, the same thing... "It says 'Detour'."

"What's that?"

"It's when you have to go a different way that you had planned to go. You know, like when they are working on a road, and you have to take a different road?"

"Oh. Yeah." And he hopped back down to play some more.

When you go a different way than you planned to go. As soon as the words left my mouth, it occurred to me that it was also a good description of life. Sometimes, things happen like we plan. But most of the time? Detours.

Thank God that life doesn't always happen the way we plan it... and that detours aren't always a inconvenience. Sometimes the most incredible blessings happen on detours.

Craziness

The last couple of weeks have accelerated into the world of non-stop craziness. Without going into much detail, since the last post:

• I have become the head coach of the 7th grade boys travel basketball team (after a messy political drama from which I tried to hide, but kept surfacing as mediator and friend to both sides).
• All, yes ALL, of the invitees to Austin's Halloween party have responded that they will attend. Yep, that's 20 - count 'em - 20 preschoolers in the house on Saturday.
• We had a wonderful long-weekend visit with Melanie and Richard (my sister and brother-in-law who live in St. Louis); and even got an extra night to be with them when their flight back to Missouri was cancelled!
• Robbo has run in five cross-country races. And he has two big races coming up this week - the Carlisle Invitational on Thursday, and the Mayor's Cup (a big race in Boston) is this Sunday.
• Rob spent last week in Florida on a business trip, and is headed to Connecticut tomorrow.

All that to say, each time I have sat down at my computer to think about posting, something else pops into my mind that needs to be done. So my writing has dwindled.

But. Life is good and I am thankful.

The Little Pictures

Robbo scored the winning touchdown in the first of his three flag football games today. He ran wildly out of the endzone back to his team with his arms outstretched and the biggest grin on his face.

It's so easy to forget how it feels to be a kid. In the big scheme of things, it's just a football game and doesn't make much difference in the world. Which is how grownups (like me) tend to think of it most times. But to him and the rest of his team, it was pretty monumental and exciting!

I don't want to get so caught up in the big picture that I forget the importance of the "little pictures"...