Last month was full of activities - vet school reunion, backpacking, back to school, and Chadwick's high school reunion. It fell the same night as the WestVet Appreciation Picnic - an annual thing where the local specialty veterinary clinic sponsors dinner and a fun event for the area veterinarians/technicians and their families. While talking about which event to attend, as we were folding laundry and watching a movie, Chadwick mentioned that his high school reunion would not occur again for another 10 years. The WestVet picnic will recur next August. Somewhat in shock, I looked at him and said, "You've been out of high school for 20 years??" With a smile, he quickly pointed out that I'm not super far from that benchmark myself....and I was stunned. Not sure why that hit me so hard - maybe it's because I didn't attend my own 10 year reunion?
We didn't go to the family picnic in the afternoon as we spent the morning moving Stephen and Tara into their new home in Boise (they moved from Seattle - can I just mention that I'm stoked??) and had our own chores to finish. Date night in the evening which was fun. Chadwick knew quite a few people there and I got to meet several of his closer friends from the era. Sitting at the table with Tara certainly wasn't hard. She and I snuck out early to get back home and left the boys to re-live the Meridian High glory days....
Morgan is turning into a night owl. She has a hard time falling asleep and would rather read than close her eyes and attempt to turn off her brain. Because of this, we sometimes see her 3-4 times after she has been "put to bed," which drives me crazy. She's now allowed two times, though I'm quite cranky the second visit, before losing her books or her blankie. She has resorted to leaving me notes on my pillow to avoid the negative consequences of descending downstairs another time. A few weeks ago, this awaited me:
Her instructions led me to this note on the bathroom floor.
Giggling quietly, I showed the notes to Chadwick. Then we found the "big" spider in another section of the bathroom. If she thinks this is big, she'd better not move to South America any time soon...
I'm pretty sure I purchased this lip gloss for the name. Luckily, I actually like the color.
Loving these kiddos and their sunglasses. There's another picture of Spencer in an earlier post asleep in his sunglasses. Can't get enough of this boy! Unfortunately for those glasses, he dumped them out the open window at a stop light last week. I heard the crunch of the plastic under the tires of the car behind me. And another one bites the dust!
Trauma in the neighborhood erupted about 4 weeks ago (proof that it's been too long since writing) when a house in the upper cul-de-sac went up in flames. The fire started at the freeway and charged up the hill, fueled by dry cheatgrass, a huge burnpile, and the line of evergreen trees at the back of the neighbor's house. By the time I called 911, the flames were visible above the evergreens...I had the kids put on a movie and ran out back to see what I could do. In the end, not much. Several of us from my side of the neighborhood put out the small fire burning up our side of the small irrigation ditch and sprayed water at the other side of the bank, watching helplessly as the siding melted on a neighbor's house and listened to the popping sound of flames devouring structure and memories of the primary house fire. What was worse was the line of people streaming in and out of our street, along the big canal, and on the streets across the freeway. Four cars were parked outside my house alone, all containing people wanting to take a peek at the tragedy unfolding above us. The police finally shut off our street to anyone, including a neighbor of mine who wasn't allowed access because there were too many vehicles already clogging the small street. It was like vultures circling a dying animal. I wanted to cry in anguish and scream at the onlookers to leave these poor people to their tragedy. Alone.
In the end, emergency crews from four districts teamed up to douse the flames. The neighboring houses were spared, minus the melted siding and shed on a nearby home. No human lives were lost. I reached out to the family the next day and with the help of neighbors and caring ward members, provided meals, clothing, school supplies, and money. The childrens' school provided assistance. Family and friends donated money and more clothing. She tearfully told me that the only thing keeping them afloat for the first few weeks was the generosity pouring in from so many people. It warmed my heart to see strangers reach out to ease another's suffering. When I finally met her, I realized that this was the mom I had spent the last year waving at as we shuttled kids to and from bus stops and activities. I drove up the street to take a look at the place this afternoon. It's a ghostly shadow of its former self.
And who doesn't love a yellow dog carrying a stick twice his length?
