Sunday, June 22, 2008

Three Years Is a LONG Time





OK...today is the day that Cat, Paul and Tate leave for London. Yesterday she warned me not to get sad. Sure, Cat...no problem! I was instructed to pretend it was just like the days when she went off to college, off to the Air Force or off on a vacation.

She forgot one minor detail. During all of those times, she was just hours away if I really felt that maternal need to hug my kid. This time we have an ocean to cross. Oh, and by the way.....our daily telephone contact is just a tad bit more expensive. I am already finguring out which things to cut form the budget in order to afford that addiction.

I lay here in the night last night thinking about just how long 3 years is. Hmmm, 3 years ago Andy was a 13 year old kid just getting out of Jr High, Mike was a Sophomore and Catie was a 10 year old fourth grader. Tate wasn't born yet and I felt a helluva lot younger. Three years is a long time!

How much will life change in 3 years? Andy will be graduated from high school and hopefully in his second year of college. Mike will have graduated, I hope! Catie will be a Jr in high school and driving. Oh, my......Joe will be 60 years old!

Tate will be a 6 year old first grader and maybe have a brother or sister? Yep, 3 years is a damned long time. I will swallow the lump in my throat all day today and carry on, hoping that I get the guts to board a plane for a very long flight and see London some day. Otherwise, 3 years will seem like eternity.

The Month of June



June began with Prom....Sooooooo much fun to watch the beautiful couples dressed to their best going off for that magic evening. We gathered at Island Park, parents and kids, to admire and take a million pictures. I was so sick with some kind of cold from hell that I could barely walk (but you KNOW I took pictures anyway).












Most of these boys are the same guys that I have watched sweat and grunt as they wrestled their way to the State Championship this year. They sure clean up well! As for the girls? Well, let's just say, I have never seen a prettier bunch of girls! They are a far cry from the taffeta gowns of the 1970's and all I could think of was they looked like HOLLYWOOD....then I found out that the theme of this year's prom was....HOLLYWOOD!

These past 2 weeks have been spent apartment hunting for Grandma. She arrived in Michigan and decided to stay, so off we went in search of the perfect home. Once we secured it, the wrestlers to the rescue....(oh, and Mike too!). Those guys had her moved in within an hour. Muscles come in handy.

Fathers Day was a nice relaxing Sunday and Cat bought Dad a membership to the Lansing Boat Club. What a perfect gift! He drove straight there and secured his dock. Now it is time to get the boat ready for the water and it makes me miss the days of the past.....Cat, Karen and Joey out scrubbing down the boat with Dad. Ok, that was a tear jerker of a memory!

We just spent our 37th Wedding Anniversary together this week and took 24 hours to hide away together. Joe surprised me over and over from the beautiful roses to the diamond necklace....I am going to keep that man around for at least another 37 years. Seriously, I am a lucky woman.