Love

A conversation with Aiden today that was worth sharing:

Aiden: "A girl at school named Zoe fell in love with me today".
Me: "Oh? How did that happen?"
Aiden: "All I did was give her a flower to put in her hair and then suddenly she was in love with me!"
Me: "Did she tell you that she was in love with you?"
Aiden: "No, but I could totally tell".

I had a great laugh over that one. What a little ladies man!

Twitch

I've developed a stress twitch behind my right eye over the past week. I am constantly low on sleep. At times, I've felt like pulling my hair out and running screaming down the street. School for the boys has only been in session for one week and I haven't even started school myself yet. When I do, I will be two credits short of full time. Oh lordy. What have I done? To the people who I am working on things for right now, it's not your fault so please do not feel any sort of guilt.

I am hoping that after a few weeks, we will have adjusted to the schedule a little more and I won't feel quite as overwhelmed and exhausted. It was just a sudden, HUGE change in schedule. We went from doing absolutely nothing to doing everything all at once.

I am more involved with preschool than I anticipated, but I am enjoying it and I feel like I am fitting into the role of one of the most senior alumni parents easier than I expected. New parents are asking me things! It was definitely weird at first, especially since we took last year off.

I find myself stressing over how Aiden is doing in 1st grade and whether or not he's bringing home all of his homework. He's also been sleep deprived and VERY grumpy in the afternoons.

Things keep getting added to my weekly schedule when I think there couldn't possibly be another thing that I can manage.

And then here's housework. No housework is being done. How can there be when I'm not home to do it? Also, how does it get this messy when we're not home?! We must have elves or goblins. It's the only explanation. The house was completely clean before school started and now it looks like we've just tossed all of our belongings out on the floor. I'm pretty sure that almost all of the clothes that we own are in laundry baskets, somewhere between clean and dirty. I can happily say that I've been keeping up with my meal planning, so at least I have that under control.

So there's life, one week in to the "normal" routine. I'll just be happy when I can get a nap or a full night's sleep.

Never Forget

Everyone who can remember this day has a story about where they were when they heard. For me, I was 17 and I'd never experienced so much grief, horror, and fear at the same time. And I was across the country from it. The harsh reality of not being safe was a shock.

A few years later, I was living on the east coast and was around people who had seen it in person, who had lost a loved one (sometimes more than one), who were affected by it on a much deeper, personal level. Stories that people so openly shared with me are forever in my mind.

I took a solo trip to New York City one weekend. I didn't expect to have any 9/11 stories shared with me because I didn't know anyone and I wasn't planning on asking a stranger. But I met some wonderful New Yorkers who, when they learned that I was on my first trip to New York, shared their stories with me. The valet at the train station and the cab driver who could barely speak English made huge impressions on me that day. And for them to shed a tear with a stranger, remembering a day nearly four years prior, really showed me that such an awful thing truly did bring the country together.

We will never forget.

Prayer Request

Please keep my sister in prayer. She had a miscarriage this evening, 5-6 months into her pregnancy. I know her pregnancy is a surprise to some of you (I hadn't really talked about it), but regardless of the circumstances, this will be a rough time for her and the family. Prayers of healing and good thoughts are very much appreciated.