Counting Sheep – The Reluctant Grownup

I spent most of July not in New Orleans, which was wonderful as it is very hot and miserable here. We were cavorting with sheep in bucolic green fields in the United Kingdom, having the best July I believe I have ever had in my 44 years of life. Last July we took a long trip West as you may recall. I am firmly in favor of vacating this swamp every July forever and ever amen.

I shall likely write more about that trip later. For now, I haven’t much time, so instead I shall write a few other bullet point updates:

The children get out of school in early May, which is lovely in early May and always regrettable in early August when we have to start up again while it is still so murderously hot outside. The heat saps my energy, makes me grumpy and sleepy and not at ALL in the mood for school starting up again. We have all kinds of mid-work-day events these first few weeks of August – meet the teacher day, “welcome day,” “get fired up” pep rally, odd drop offs and pickups for the first day or two (half day here, short day there, late day everywhere). Furthermore our children’s three different schools are all urban and none have a parking lot, so we have to do street parking on some of the skinniest two-way residential streets you’ve ever seen. My fourth grader’s school is surrounded by the most godawful endless road construction, so for each of these various days for him I have to navigate the ever-changing (and poorly sign posted) (and always completely EMPTY of workers) construction zones, then park miles away and walk for ages in the beating sun just to get there, arriving as a sweating puddle with makeup pooling under my eyes. This has already begun and we have another week or two before it all settles in. Grouse grouse grouse.
I have made a goal to get out of my house more, and also to call friends more (I think we discussed this previously?) Last Monday I asked Jack if he wanted to go to the Barbie movie with me, and he responded ABSOLUTELY (this was all by text even though we were feet apart). He wore a sorta pink (ok, actually red) shirt with stars on it, and I wore a pink dress and did up my hair. I knocked on his door and upon his invitation FLUNG the door open theatrically and struck a pose, and he had the greatest reaction. “Holy COW Ma, you look so GREAT!” [pops up to give me a hug]. I was brave and invited some friends to come with, and although they declined and it was just us two, at least I reached out! Loved the movie so much, we talked about it a lot afterward.

I texted more friends on Wednesday and we made plans for dinner Thursday night. Turns out we all had lots going on and lots to catch up on! We all used to work at the same firm and now not one of us works there, so it was fun to trace our various trajectories since. (3 in-house, 1 at a new firm).

I volunteered as a cook for a cafe that serves the homeless/needy on Saturday as another step toward my goal of getting out of this house more. Our church sends a group once a month or so, and last minute I emailed and offered to join them. I worked from 7am to 10:30am with very nice folks – cooking grits and working the service line. (The cafe serves folks like they are in a restaurant, so volunteers work as servers and we had an expo and line cooks and the whole thing.) Afterwards I came home and kept up the momentum, putting together several meals to have ready for the first week of school. I made lasagna, Persian stew, chipotle pineapple chicken skewers, a roasted whole chicken, and roasted all kinds of vegetables for meals like this pappardelle and goat cheese dish. I feel ready for anything.
I also made plans to go out to White Linen night with my son, who then ditched me to go with his girlfriend, and I suppose I shall have to get used to this. Ha! (The Prof and the two youngest boys are out of town this past week, so it’s been just me and Emma’s Boyfriend over here.) I was planning to go on my own, but it was still about 98 degrees at 8pm so I just stayed home and had some Pinot Noir and read books.

Anyhow, all in all a successful week of doing lots of things with lots of people and overall recovering from my social phobias. I have lots of notes from Scotland and Ireland, and I will likely share those later this week – if I survive the stop-start herky-jerky first part of school.