We had an awesome family fun day at the creek today. It’s one of my favorite places in the world to be, and I got to be there with the people I love.
And things like this happened
The girl and I went on an off-roading version of this that had me laughing for a good 20 minutes straight.
Not just happiness, but fun too!
Out community hall had its annual stampede breakfast this morning. It was the third year the kids and I helped (since I’m a board member) and it is more enjoyable every year.
This year for the first time we had a dunk tank to raise money for the hall and it was a huge success. Some very good sports volunteered to be dunked in less than ideal weather which was greatly appreciated.
I love our community. I’m so grateful we are back home.
The girl had plans with a friend after her final today – they were going to hang out at said friend’s house. Perfect for me, as it meant I could grab her at regular time.
Well, as it happened, the friends mom apparently came home in a bad mood and turfed my girl out of the house so they could deal with family issues.
The problem with this is we live 20 minutes out of town and suddenly my girl was standing in the rain at the park calling me.
Frustrated with that mom? You have no idea. But we needed to problem solve.
I sent her to The Hub, which is the local coffee shop. We have spent many hours hanging out there waiting for one or the other of the monsters to finish a school activity. It’s warm, welcoming, and a good safe place to be.
The girl walked in, explained that she lived out of town and was unexpectedly stranded and asked if I could give a payment over the phone so she could buy a drink and wait.
He told her to grab her drink, wait for me, and that I could just pay when I got her.
When I picked her up, he made a point of saying that anytime she needed to hang out there she was more than welcome.
It takes a village. It really does. I try to be one of those adults who looks out for other people’s kids, and I sure appreciate the adults who look out for mine.
We had full out family and community (which really is mostly family anyway) events today with a branding and a bbq. After cold, crappy weather yesterday, and not a great forecast for today I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was perfect.
I mean seriously, how blessed are we that this is our life?
And I had great visits with people I haven’t seen in a long time.
It was a good day.
Mother’s Day is still kind of a bittersweet holiday. I love being celebrated by my kids, but I sure miss my mom.
I was really grateful that my cousin and her family invited us over for supper tonight. My girl went over early and spent the afternoon helping cook the feast. She did her speciality – lobster bisque – and together they all put together quite the feast.
I am so thankful that we are part of this tribe
Today we had a very emotional service as we said goodbye to my cousins’ mom. It was an amazingly beautiful service and so touching the way they honoured their mom.
Her presence was very much felt in the church as we were walked through one of the most vulnerable and honest tributes I have been witness to.
There is a lot to be said for us all being in a place where our walls come down and we are so open and raw in our sharing of emotions – and the entire church was enveloped in that today. It was a very rare and spiritual gift.
In the slideshow they had a photo of both of our moms together and I thought how fitting it was. They developed a friendship in the years mom took classes at the university that they both cherished, and they are together again now in heaven.
Watching people you love be in pain when you know exactly what that pain feels like is brutal. It’s really hard losing your mom. But they did such an amazing job of sharing their love with us.
It was beautiful. And the fact that they were able to make it so their mom actually sang (from a recording obviously) at her own funeral was absolutely priceless.
We had a family supper celebrating my uncle’s birthday tonight. Lots of good laughter and conversation, ending in a big political conversation with my son and cousin. As someone who avoids political conversations at all costs it amazes me that he’s so interested in it. But he’s figuring out who he is and what his beliefs are and that’s a good thing.
Mostly it was just really nice to spend time with my tribe.
We had another meeting at the hall to see where they are at on our steps towards historical designation.
I’m not sure yet where it will lead, but it’s been fascinating learning more of the history of the building and the community. I love this community and the people in it – I feel fortunate all the time that this is my tribe. And that hall is full of generations of our memories.
I have a friend who understands that the way to make me happy is to feed me chocolate. Tonight he made me homemade lava cake as part of a trial experiment – one I was happy to be a guinea pig for. It was awesome.
Its a good reminder to find happiness wherever you can. My heart is heavy today knowing my cousins lost their mom last night. Life is short. Live in love.
My cousin and her crew are visiting us for a couple of days. It’s awesome because I hardly ever get to see her and it always amazes me how easily family bonds. Even though we didn’t grow up together we have enough shared memories that it’s never awkward
We went to the zoo and saw the tigers, the lions, the pandas, and tons of other animals. I hadn’t seen the panda exhibit before and they were enchanting
When we got home, my cousin’s son played his violin for us, and I was amazed at how talented that kid is. As someone with no musical skill at all, I have mad respect for people who can put a tune together. He did that and then some
We are very blessed with this tribe. I am so fortunate.
