Big news around here: might you have heard the shrieking coming from my house last night around 11:00 p.m. Central time? I finished researching and writing my book*. Finished. Though I thought for a while it would never happen, it did. Short of some minor editing, it’s done. Of course, my personal goal when I sent proposals out was December 31, 2009, but we won’t dwell on that. Life gets in the way of the most reasonable goals sometimes, and at least I kept plugging away at it. Better late than never, I always say. The writing, though, was the easy part. Getting it published? More than likely, a little…
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And, Just Like That, The Band-Aid Was Off.
When Jim and I were newly married, he was in the Navy, on sea duty. His ship’s battle group was out to sea quite a bit. In fact, in the first four years we were married, he went on three six-month cruises. That’s in addition to one-, two-, or three months out here and there, as well as the cruises that only lasted a week or two. Ahead of his departure, it was awful. The anticipation of being apart was really pure hell. All of the preparations we had to make each time he left and just the emotional roller coaster we went through on a continual basis was awful.…
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Sending Your Kid To College Is Exactly Like Being Pregnant, But Different.
I never thought I would experience pregnancy more than twice, but I was wrong. No, no, I’m not really pregnant again (bite your tongue!). I am, however, exhibiting many of the same symptoms. When we found out I was pregnant the first time, the wheels started turning immediately. We started wondering about so many things: Were we ready for this change?Were we up for the challenge of raising another human being?Could we actually afford this? Of course, those were only some of the questions. And it was a little late to be asking those questions, anyway. We put lots of time into figuring out our name choices. We did research…
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Teenaged Boys + Cars = Forever
I have learned that it’s a given, the torrid love affair between teenaged boys and cars. The day on which the older boy bought his car (with his own money!) was quite possibly the most exciting day of his life. He was positively giddy. All wasn’t perfect, however: the car came with an oil leak that required constant monitoring and topping off of oil. We took it in a few months ago to see if the pros could determine the source of the leak, and it was the worst oil-related diagnosis possible: the head gasket. The quote? $2600. (more than twice what the older boy paid for the car) It…
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If My Wallet Were As Big As His Heart, We’d Be In Business.
The other day, I was at work when the older boy called me from his job (well, one of them: he’s doing graphic design part-time by day and hosting/bussing at a restaurant part-time by night), very excited about something. “I have a GREAT idea for a Father’s Day gift for Dad,” he said. “Oh really?” I asked. “What is it?” “Well, we are right next door to one of those places that rebuilds and soups up cars, and I’ve been noticing an old Camaro in the parking lot. I went into the auto place and asked about it, and they said it belongs to my boss.” Jim’s dream car is…
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I’ll Tell You Who He Is…He’s MY SON!
Well, another lacrosse season has come and gone. This year, with both boys playing (the younger boy on the Fresh/Soph team and the older boy on Varsity), our family schedule was jam-packed. On some weeks, I had three or four evenings of games to watch. It was a lifesaver that the older boy has his own car to get himself to away games for pre-game practice so I could join later, as well as the fact that both of their teams did their Monday through Friday practices at the elementary school in our own neighborhood. Each of them had a very different season from the other. This was the younger…
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The Graduate
I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already; I’m still catching up from our whirlwind weekend, which went very, very well. Sunday’s graduation was amazing, and–surprisingly–I didn’t even do the full-on, ugly cry! (Yay me!) The morning began with photos in the backyard: lots of them. It was pretty surreal to see my own kid in a cap and gown, I have to say. He was extremely patient, too, with all of the picture-taking going on. Jim’s parents, along with his sister and her family, were there and in the mix (my parents would come over later), and the photo session took about thirty minutes. One of my favorite moments was when…
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Congratulations, Class of 2010!
Just a taste…more tomorrow! ©2010 Suburban Scrawl
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Last Day.
My first-born son left the house a few moments ago. He had a spring in his step, a sparkle in his eyes, and a smile on his face: not typical characteristics possessed by him on a school day, but today is special. Today is his last day of high school, ever. EVER. As this weekend’s insanity of relatives and graduation festivities approaches, I find myself reflecting on my own high school graduation (so many, many years ago…). I remember how pretty I felt in my blue cap and gown. I spent the day hugging friends, giddily talking about how excited we were to be finished and able to move onward…
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Who, Me???
Yesterday evening I took a moment to say hello on Twitter after a twelve-hour day watching the younger boy’s lacrosse team play six games in a tournament (they took third place: woot!), and was shocked and confused to get this tweet from my friend Carol: I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about because this was the first I had heard of it, so I asked her for clarification, and she sent me the link so I could see for myself. I refreshed the page a couple of times and rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing something that was really there, and indeed I was.…