Playing catch up and celebrating the end of the school year

I had all these plans today and it is nearing 10:00 and I have been working on my calling for the past two hours. To be honest I feel like I’m playing catch up. I think my life was in a fog during Covid. My drive and love for organization and productivity decreased. Or maybe it was the new baby. Or maybe it was surviving residency… or a combination of the three. But recently I feel my self emerging from my cave of hibernation. Starving for change, travel, and a social life. I told Andy that if the Lord hadn’t placed the Durrants next door to us we would not have any friends. They have been a lifeline of joy and strength. We’ve gotten to serve them and they for sure have been there for us. When our realtor told us the people moving in nextdoor were going to be LDS I thought… this could be either really good or really bad. It has been really good. In times of isolation, confusion, and bouts of extreme anxiety, borderline depression, they have been there and helped pull me out of it. So this is a bit of a catch up post, but because it’s late, it won’t be long or catch up hardly at all. I do want to include some of the highlights from this week though.

Every night my kids shower or bathe and then I apply lotion to their backs and legs and arms because they get bad eczema. On Friday evening Max said, “Mom I’ll give you a dollar for the massage” (though he used a different made up word that he had understood to mean massage and it took me a minute to understand what he was talking about). Though a dollar isn’t much to me, it is to him and the fact that he valued my massage (that I give freely and often) made me feel valued and appreciated. I declined the dollar and told him I did it because I loved him.

Max had a friend from school over Friday night. His name is Luke. I asked him about his family at dinner and he said, “My parents are divorced.” I said, “Max told me. I’m so sorry, that would be so hard.” He said, “Well it’s how it is and I just have to deal with it.” When he said that my heart broke. It sounded as though he had heard that phrase many times. When Max told me about his friend Luke he said, “He’s a lonely.” I asked him what that meant. He said, “He doesn’t have any brothers and sisters.” Then he told me that his parents were divorced. I remembered feeling so worried and nervous about that as a kid when I saw friends’ parents get divorced. Any time my parents would fight I would get anxious and worry they were going to get a divorce, so I thought I’d comfort Max and tell him that his dad and I would never get divorced. Max looked at me with a confused expression and said, “I know.” I’m so glad that he’s never even questioned or worried that his parents would give up on one another. We’re far from perfect and have our moments, but he sees us work through it and one of Andy’s major strengths is showing an added measurement of love after a moment of disagreement with me or disciplining kids. This reassurance is so important and I think it sticks with the kids and I more than the argument itself.

Maverick “graduated” from preschool this week. The picture below is him and his two LDS friends in his class. They have a few nicknames. His teacher said they call themselves the “Three fleas.” I’ve only heard “pokemon best buddies,” but Christopher’s mom mentioned on more I’ll have to ask her about later. They get along really well for the most part. Maverick is adored by all of his classmates and cried when Andy picked him up from his last day. “I’m going to miss my friends.” He said. I’m glad we were able to afford to put him through preschool, it has been a great experience for him and he has learned a lot. Beverly too!

Max has been super creative lately. He and his best buddy from school started a comic book club. Every day he’s come off the bus with a new comic and new ideas that he has created. I love it and I can see it really motivating him in his reading, writing, and spelling.

And finally, mother’s day weekend. We started it off with a renovation project. The jeep needed a paint job, so we got to work.

Andy spoiled me on mother’s day. He helped clean the house, made dinner, and got me flowers. I got to go get a massage two days later. It was a perfect gift.