Keeping Pace

Keeping Pace

Only Middle School

by 1 Comment

20130531 IMG 7902

Final exams are now behind us and YaYa’s gown now hangs in the spare bedroom awaiting the big day. It’s been a long journey up to this juncture in his education filled with angst and drama, struggle and lost sleep. More times than I can count, I have questioned my choice to move him to such a challenging academic environment, wondering if the bar was set too high for him. Today, like at the end of each of the past few years, I am filled with pride in him for his dedication to find his way. I know it will serve his future years well.

Still, I find myself repeating to myself “it’s only middle school.” Until now, I thought this was so that I didn’t make such a big deal of it that I’d have nothing left for high school graduation and college. But that’s not it at all. I now realize my reminding myself that this is only middle school graduation is my way of reassuring myself that he’s not leaving me empty-nested just yet.

We’ve been together, just he and I, almost since the day Tom died: supporting, comforting, and sometimes arguing. And although I would be happy to leave the stress of getting him to where-he-needs-to-be behind, I am not ready to let go of the where-we-are-right-now. 

So, I embrace this moment and cherish the moments where I get to embrace my boy who is growing up way too fast. This is only “middle school” graduation. There are still four more years ahead of us.

lemon, ginger, honey…and Doritos

by Leave a Comment

I’m sure my colleagues are wondering why I chose to work from home today. Certainly my teenage son is old enough to be left alone. However, there are times when leaving a teenage boy to his own devices has too much potential to lead to bad things happening. It’s not that I think that YaYa will leave the house in search of trouble. Not at all. However, he could go out in search of junk food, skip eating any real food all together, and run around with the dogs until they all collapse from exhaustion.

Today, I’ve decided that I can get my day’s worth of work done, throw a load or two into the laundry, and give me boy the TLC that I wish I was always around to provide him with. And although he is sitting on the couch with a bag of Doritos, he also has a hot cup of lemon, ginger, honey, has had his back pounded, taken a decongestant, and eaten a decent breakfast.  

Empty Nest Syndrome

by 1 Comment

DSC 3516Every Spring, Mr and Mrs Love[bird] come to my front porch for a visit. They move in above the front door, gathering up twigs and other random fluff to create a nice little nesting place for their young.

However, a nest built directly above any home’s front door is not probably not the best-placed location for the laying of little rollie-pollie eggs. Every year, despite my request for all to enter and exit quietly, and use the garage door if available, eggs are dropped on the doorstep.

DSC01357

When we come home to find the egg yoke and half of the nest on the doorstep, we are saddened. Above the door, there is nothing left but a few twigs. And we are left with only the images of Mr and Mrs Love painstaking efforts to build a future.

These images of birds building a family each spring is more than just that for me. Watching them each year reawakens my own experience with raising little ones. I watch them and remember the excitement and possibility of bringing young chicks into the world, watching them as they learn to spread their wings and take flight, and although the path they take is never quite what you dreamed for them, it is their creation — and that is good.

[Read more…]

All the news that is fit-to-print

by 4 Comments

Often times, we parents may feel like the last to know important things about those close to us. All too often, it is our own children whose noteworthy news is left undisclosed – to us, that is. If you are not constantly checking their FB pages, or have not been given friend access, you may indeed be the last to know about upcoming events in their lives – things a parent really should hear from their own children. *sigh*

BoBo called me on the 4th of July with not much news to report. Things seemed to be the usual sort of ho-hum that he often speaks of. The excruciatingly hot weather in Texas seems to be all he ever talks about these days. One look at FB and I would discover that 112 degree temperatures and his girlfriend’s visit are not all that fall into the category of all-the-news-that’s-fit-to-print. Apparently, there is more…

For instance, apparently my son just earned his stripes!

Content Protected Using Blog Protector By: PcDrome.