A Week in Review

Hello All! How are you? Ready for the coming Memorial Day weekend? I know I am. I work at the store tomorrow, but then I have the holiday off. Let’s commemorate with A Week in Review.

Mr. Jones
Jonah has always been required to give me a good hug when we see each other. All of the kids are under the same obligation. Honestly, it’s the least they can do. But Jonah seems to have it in his head that he has to give hugs because he’s the youngest. A few years ago, when Marla was pregnant with William, I was at their house, and getting my hug, and then he said, “When they baby comes then you’ll hug it instead of me and then I’ll be happy!” like he could not wait for that great day of deliverance. Free at last!

I tried to tell him then that it wouldn’t change anything. The baby would be tiny, and would need tiny hugs. Jonah’s job was to give the big, squeezing hugs.

Last Sunday I was at their house again, and again asked Jonah for a quality hug. He protested at first, but after a few minutes he came running over, “OK, here’s your quality hug” (he really said ‘quality’) and then William ran up and grabbed me around the knees, too.

Jonah said, “When does this move from me to William?”

“Well, Zac still hugs me, so probably never.” Zac is 15 now, and really does give nice hugs.

See, he must think that hugging is the responsibility of the youngest child, and now that he’s not the youngest, he’s ready to pass that job on to the baby. I hate to crush his hopes, but he’s not getting off the hook that easily. That kid is going to have to hug me at his college graduation.

Maybe I’m too demanding and should just leave them all alone? I sometimes wonder…? But then again, I kind of think he’d miss the attention. I know I would.

Road Trip
I am planning to drive to Minnesota this summer! There’s a huge family reunion the end of July – lots of pale Minnesotans with funny accents, knee shorts and sandals with socks – to keep the mosquitoes off of the ankles, of course. On the last several back I’ve flown, so this time I really think it will be fun to road trip. I’ll probably go by myself. My siblings are coming to the reunion, but can’t take as much time off as I am planning to. But a long drive alone with some good music and Diet Coke and great scenery sounds so relaxing, almost therapeutic. And I have a nice car now. I’m getting all tingly just thinking about it. There are a lot of beautiful spots along the way. If I really do this, then I’ll take lots of pictures and create a blog journal of the trip. Would you like that? North Dakota has the world’s largest Holstein cow…? Of course you’d like that.

Season Wrap Up
It’s the end of May, which means that all of my TV shows have wrapped it up for the summer. Only Glee is still running. I’m kind of glad that they’re gone for a while. I tend to think of watching TV as a colossal waste of time. I still do it, of course, but it is a waste of time. Now that I don’t have the temptation I’m hoping to do more productive things – evening walks, reading, writing, learning how to cook again. It’ll be nice. And Marla’s pool will be open. I’ve told her that I’ll be over most evenings. She doesn’t have to talk to me, or even acknowledge my presence. I’ll just walk through the house into the backyard and jump in the pool. Nice. Maybe I’ll leave her some tip money on the counter? Or I’ll take the kids with me and give her some alone time. There’s a way to make this a win-win.

Novels
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction, John Adams by McCullough for one. I’ve liked all of it, but over the last couple of days I’ve really wanted a good novel. I miss them! Almost with a physical pain. So as soon as John and I wrap it up, I’m going to read a bunch of fiction. Yay, it’s so exciting! I’ll let you know what I’m reading and what I think of it, if you’re interested. There’s no reason why this can’t be fun for us all.

Cards and Letters
I’ve been writing letters lately, and sending cards to loved ones. In this age of electronic everything, I honestly worry that the art of letter writing will be lost, and that will be sad. It’s nice putting a pen to paper and talking to someone. It feels more personal. I’ve been trying to write to my parents once a week, and every now and then I send a card to Sierra at school. My dad writes to me, and I love it. Getting something in the mail is so much fun. I hope they think so, too.

I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks, as always, for taking the time.
You are loved.