The Daughter just left for school. Packed up the car, and drove off. It’s her 3rd year at Virginia Tech, and you’d think that by now I’d be used to it. And maybe I am, a bit. No tears this time from me, although they're probably right under the surface. It was wonderful to have her home, but we had so little time together this summer.
My work was brutal there for awhile, and she was in summer school and working. She was only able to spend the first weekend of our family reunion vacation at Lake of the Ozarks. Our time together is so precious—and I was really grateful that she agreed to leave today so that we could spend yesterday together.
We had fun!
We hit the beauty shop for cuts, color and hightlights. Unfortunately, I have only “before” and “during” pictures, and she would be a very unhappy daughter if I posted those. Had I taken “after” pictures, you would be quite impressed because we are quite lovely.
Fortunately, I had a rare couple of hours to knit, and I made great progress on a Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. (Maeve the Marvelous inspired me, as she’s been whipping out these things like crazy. Go to the second posting down, and you'll see a lovely green one that she did.) I started it at Late Night on Wednesday, and am more than halfway done. It’s truly a great and easy-to-knit baby project. On another note, the wee sockies are finished, and I’m planning a hat or something to go along with them. (Or maybe one of them there kimonos?)
After 4 hours of this hair business, we headed off to King Street Blues for some wings and Diet Coke, and then some back-to-school shopping.
When she was little, that meant paper, pencils, crayons and new shoes. Now it means paper towels, Ziplok bags, Hamburger Helper, cold medications, freshly ground coffee and cases of soda, as well as any gadgets for the apartment that we could purchase now so that "Me-The-Mom" pays.
I’m not falling-apart distressed, since we have VT football season tickets, (YAY! In the Club section!!!!) and I’ll see her in a couple of weeks. It’s just that every year they get a little older, and I have to let go a little more. I hope I’ve done a good enough job…
Vacation was fun
It is always wonderful to be with my sibs and their spouses and kids. I spent a bit more time in the pool this year, frequently with beer bottle in hand.
It was hotter’n blazes, and the pool warmed up to nearly bathtub temp by mid-afternoon. One of the kids threw some ice cubes in at one point. Mom is amazing. She finished the last chemo just before our week, and was moving a bit slowly, but hit the pool every afternoon. We made shade for her by putting a couple of deck chairs on their sides and draping towels.
The Lake of the Ozarks is a lovely place—butterflies and hummingbirds all over the place. There was a deck outside our room where we had coffee every morning, and read books when it wasn’t too hot.
The morning we left, we got this picture of 2 of my sisters, my Mom and me. Except for missing my other 2 sisters, I think it’s one of my favorites.
1 comment:
Your paragraph about the things that you bought for your daughter ... paper towels, ziplock bags, etc. ... completely brought back memories of going shopping with my mom right before school started. It was really neat thinking about that again. Thank you!!
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