September | 2015 | Spokalulu

On Wednesdays and some weekends, you can find me at cross-country meets. I’m there to cheer on my boy and his teammates. XC parents do not sit in chairs or bleachers; we trot our slower selves all over the course from point A to point B to point C and back to point A, cheering on our runners as they go uphill, downhill, around the bend, and if the course is really challenging, through a creek.

This month seems to have been in race mode: powering through the tougher stretches and trying to make the most of the easier times. Some things for which I’ve been particularly grateful:

Time spent with friends
H-J getting happily settled into his second year of college, and calling me just to say hello
EB getting a week of work at a home renovation (via networking) and interviewing at yet another job this afternoon
baby shower for my DIL (and getting to see my son before heading back home again)
cool nights and sunny days
coffee — and my husband who wakes me up with a cup of black gold most mornings

I had this post written on Thursday night but I was really tired and went to bed without publishing it. For some weird reason, I thought I’d proofread and post it on Friday. Ha! So here is Friday’s post, three days late. You’re welcome.

Monday was the first day of school for SnakeMaster. He’s my only one still at home full-time (except, he’s not — read on) but he’s also kid #4, which means that his parents do not always get out of bed before he goes to school in the mornings… after all, school starts at 8:00 in the morning and I never claimed to be a morning person. SuperDad never had to be involved in parenting on school mornings, so he’s a little clueless on how it all works. He thought he’d heard the kid get up with his alarm clock. It wasn’t until 9am when SnakeMaster emerged from his bedroom that we discovered the 16yo was still at home an hour after the bell rang on campus. A whirlwind of activity got us out the door 15 minutes later. This is why there is no “first day of school” photo to share with you.
We’ve got two more weeks with the H-J before he returns for his second year of college. He is moving to a house with 5 other guys, although he doesn’t seem to have any idea how it is being furnished or who is contributing what. I’m trying to not think about this (because it makes me a little crazy) but I also wonder who in their right mind would rent a house to 6 college guys?!
Encyclopedia Blue had a job for two months, washing dishes at a restaurant about 7 miles away. It was a 35 minute commute via bicycle for him (because he is a fitness geek, he thought that was just fine) and we had been telling him he needed to find someplace closer before winter. Well, he doesn’t have a new job, but he rode into work on Wednesday only be to told he was being “let go.” I’m one frustrated mama… first he drops out of college, then he spends 6 months unemployed, and now after 2 months, he’s jobless once more. He’s nearly 23 years old and living at home. He does pay rent because that has always been our rule: if you live at home after your high school years and are not in college, you pay rent. Tough love. *sigh*
Last weekend we took a quick trip to visit the grandparents (SuperDad’s folks). The resident 16yo was behind the wheel, getting more experience, when we drove into an oncoming dust storm. I was in the backseat, texting my girlfriends about my rising anxiety and trying to keep quiet. When we stopped to change drivers, the 3 males went to McD’s for burgers; I went to *bucks for the biggest vanilla latte they would sell to me. (At that point, I would have willingly paid for Irish Coffee, if only they sold it.) Luckily, it turns out that a couple shots of sugar help to lower my blood pressure.
SnakeMaster took his driver’s test last week but he did not pass the exam. While I agree that he needs more practice (I’m not yet comfortable with his driving ability), he was marked down for driving too slowly on residential streets, which I don’t think is fair. The person administering the test decided the boy was driving slowly because he was unsure of himself, but we taught SM to take it slow on residential streets, especially those with unmarked intersections, because we have seen too many near-accidents. Apparently 15mph is too slow and he needs to speed it up to at least 20mph. Honestly, I would rather he drive slowly and carefully. I see fools speeding on those streets every single day. So now we are telling him, “Drive faster!” His schedule is really full now that school has begun, but we’ll try to get him tested again within the next few weeks. With that full schedule, we practically need him to drive himself places.