Sad, Happy, and Everything in Between

With the new school year starting in just a few days, I am feeling reflective and introspective.  I've learned at times of transition, I tend to be more thoughtful.  

Sad:

I am sad the kids are going back to school.

I will miss them.

I will be lonely without them.

I hate the early mornings.

The hectic schedules and filled hours with busy work.

I hate the shortening days, that provide little time for outdoor family fun after getting home at 4:45pm.

I hate seeing them stress about school, sports, seminary, and the other components of their life.

Happy:

But I am so happy for them.

They miss their friends and can't wait to return to see them.

They are excited to learn again.

To have a routine and schedule to their day.

Travis will still be working from home and so I will have unlimited access to him.

I will have separate and uninterrupted time to work on my school work.

In Between:

I can't say I am nervous about Coronavirus.  I wonder if I should be.  But I'm not.

School rules, regulations, and protocols seem unrealistic to follow through on, but I am encouraging everyone in our family to remain flexible, optimistic, and open minded.

There is a part of me that wants to stress out about all the unknowns, but mostly I still just have peace.

So may the odds ever be in our family's favor as we embark on the 2020-2021 school year!

Vacation - Gatlinburg Tennessee

This year's vacation plans went flying out the window.  

February - work trip with Travis (I cancelled, not knowing what lay ahead)

March - camping with Farleys (cancelled, but we went to a cabin instead)

April - Vegas with Isabella for her birthday (cancelled)

May - Scout Camp (cancelled)

June - Pioneer Trek (cancelled)

July - Palmyra Pagaent in New York (cancelled), Girls Camp (cancelled, held online)

August - Alaska Cruise (cancelled)

September - 20 Year Anniversary Trip -surprise location- (cancelled)

October - DC Temple Trip and NY -maybe with Gabby- (cancelled)

November - Arizona Whiting Reunion - still planned

As everything started to fall apart, we started trying to plan some other family vacation(s).  So we went camping in Wichita Falls in May.  We tried to go to Canada, but the Canadians wouldn't let us in.  So we started looking at locations in the US.  After considering a handful of locations, we decided on Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains.  We reserved an Airbnb.  We bought plane tickets and started making reservations.  

It ended up being a fantastic vacation.  The Farleys came along as well as Amanda.  Our schedule looked something like this:

Tuesday: Fly To Gatlinburg, check into the place, go for groceries, and relax to get ready for crazy busy week

Wednesday: Crockett's Breakfast Camp for yummy breakfast, Hike to Clingmans Cove, Hike to Grotto Falls, Saw a bear, then took the kids to the arcade

Thursday: Rafting on the Upper Pigeon River, then to Delauders for a BBQ lunch, afternoon cuddles, and then the boys went Golfing and the girls played games, then family games

Friday: Morning cuddles, then to Midnight Hole North Caroline, waterfalls and rock jumping, college interview, then the Carvers Orchard & Applehouse Restaurant and a Karate Kid Marathon

Satruday: Ziplining #alwaysclimb, The Old Mill Restaurant, Gatlinburg SkyLift Park and SkyBridge

Sunday: Drive to Cades Cove, Hike Abrams Falls, swim, and 3 more bears, dinner at Geppetto's Italian Restaurant

Monday: Long sleep in to recover, Top Jump, Sky Coaster, Rowdy Bear Park, The Local Goat for dinner, and home to pack and last playing

Tuesday: Fly home, sleep to recover

Being with my family makes me happier than anything in the world.  Walking away from the routine, creating memories and traditions, exposing the kids to new experiences and points of view and ways of life helps us all to grow and be better versions of ourselves.  

Birthday Interview - Mary

This was almost a big one, 39!  I can't wait for next year, but this year and every year is always a great one!

What's your favorite thing to do?

Reading, Puzzling

What do you want to be when you grow up? 
A Counselor and/or Therapist

What is your favorite food?
French Fries, Seafood 

Who do you like to hang out with?
My Family, My Friends

What do you do really well? 
Sleep, Read, Google

What makes you laugh?
My kids, Awkward Situations

What is the best time of day?
When I get to take a nap

What are you afraid of?
Not really anything - but my family dying (if anything)

What do you like to do with your family?
Vacation, Play Games, Hike

What do you like to learn about?
Counseling, Sleep, The Brain, Most anything

Where do you like to go?
Any place I have never been before

What is your favorite book?
The Alchemist, The Book of Mormon

If you could have one wish, what would it be?
An Eternal Family

A Pat on the Back

So something happened this week.  I got a compliment in person, paired with a compliment the next day via email.  They were from the same person, one a continuation of the other.  They were really meaningful though and I wanted to tell someone about it.  So...

Dear Diary,
Yesterday I had a Zoom meeting with one of my Professors.  Yes I say professors because I am back in Grad School.  Grad School I have told next to no one about.  Why you ask?  Well you won't be the first or the last, so I will explain it as best I can.  One I am super excited about it.  And I feel like when I tell other people about it, they will ask all kinds of questions.  Albeit, with loving and generous intentions, but I know I don't have the answers to the standard questions they have.
1.  Why did you go back to school?
A:  This has a hundred different reasons and depending on my mood the answer would vary.  The short is that I felt inspired to by the Lord.  The long answer has to do with a 20 year latent agenda that I am fulfilling despite reconciling just years ago that I would probably never complete this part of my life.
2.  What do you think you will do once you get your degree?
A.  I have no flaming idea.  I have some guesses, but for now they are just that.  And because I am someone who believes you should say what you mean and mean what you say...I don't want to be held to those guesses, nor be looked at like a crazy person when I say I have no idea.  I have learned that I can wait on the Lord's answers, to be more patient in knowing what the future holds.  It is still such a new and fragile lesson learned that I don't want or need the pressure of people who haven't learned that lesson getting me worked up over something I have peace over for now.

Last, I don't want to feel and know the reactions of people.  Call it great people skills, intuition, mind reading, but often I feel like I know what people are thinking.  Quite frankly I know that people's responses to this will be varied and that is their right.  But for something I am so excited over, I don't want to feel any negativity, doubt, questioning, judgement, hostility, or competition about it.  Therefore I am in my current predicament of having shared the information with a few who are closest to me and wanting to share but with limited outlets.  Lucky for me I have a blog that preserves my life and the life of my kids with very little readership now that social media is all the rage.  But happily for me I still print my blog books every few years as a family history to be passed on.

So now back to my experience, I am in my Zoom meeting with my professor who wants to get to know me despite remote learning class systems.  We meet and she asks me to tell her a little about me, I don't remember the specific question, but something along the lines of tell me something about yourself that makes you different from others while helping me get to know you.  Something that is unique to you.

I shared with her that one of my biggest priorities in life was to leave every person I have contact with feeling a little happier, a little better about themselves, a little more loved by me and by God because of their encounter with me.  She was surprised and a little wowed.  Bear in mind this professor is middle aged, I can't tell if she is older or younger than me, and I don't know how much she has read my file to know how old I am or about my life.  But I know on a regular basis people think I am younger than I am.  So after absorbing this for some time and her working through the reconciliation of this return, she asks me so what do you get out of this?  "Why do this, what's in it for you?"  I paused for a moment and then responded that religion was a big part of my life and played the biggest role in shaping my values and beliefs and that by doing this, I thought it was the best way I could fulfill the measure of my creation.  She shook her head and said wow that's deep.  A lot deeper than I expected.  As we continued to talk she asked more about my religion and we had a great conversation about that - yay missionary moment.

But as we continued on she said, when I talk to you I can feel your happiness and warmth and light.  Even when I had read your written submitted work I could feel that happiness and light.  I felt so pleased, because I promise I am not trying to write with happiness and light but get the work done efficiently and quickly.  She said that is was wonderful talking to me, because she felt better having done it and she felt pleased to be able to know me, she thought I was quite remarkable.  I got off glowing, this idea of light had been hit many times this week because of virtual girls camp and it being our theme.  So with the conclusion of camp, this glowing compliment, and giving myself a reprieve from every worry of every person I haven't been successful with in my goal, I just gratefully sucked it all in.  Travis had overheard the conversation and lovingly teased me and I thought that would be the end of it.

But no, the next day I got an email from her saying, "you are an exceptional student and a brilliant person."  You see why I had to share, not because it is so remarkable to get words of affirmation from someone, but to have such a deep and personal conversation about those things you hold most special and close to you and to feel like that person came away understanding you and liking every component too.  Maybe it is her counselor superpower, but I am pleased nonetheless.
Love, Mary

Lions Go Roar

Isn't she wildly talented?  She just sometimes shocks me with how fearlessly she tries lots of new things.

Come to Texas - We'll Play

I love when people come to visit.  We take them to all our favorite Texas places.  So it made my summer when James and Adrian came for a visit.  We went to the River, the Ranch, and the Beach, as well as Downtown Boerne.

I Love Food!