1. As promised, a report on Arthur Dent’s first day of school. He had a rough morning. I think it was mostly nerves, but partly the fact that he actually had to wear pants and shoes. He really hates wearing pants. The struggle is real, y’all.
2. What did I do with my newly found part time mother of one status? Not pick up my preschooler on time, that’s what. Yes, I was that parent on the first day of school. I thought they were released at 12:30, but it was really 12:15. Arthur Dent was standing there all alone with his teacher, waiting for me. I guess I won’t have to make room for this year’s Mother of the Year trophy.
3. Since it was a holiday weekend, I decided to take advantage of The International Man of Intrigue being around and of an extra long weekend, so I loaded Amelia Earhart and Gertrude Bell into the car and headed to visit Amelia Earhart’s Godmother. It was worth every minute of the five hour drive to hang out in her Godparents’ house. They are from Rhode Island and I love the accent and the loud and the just being with people we’ve known since before The International Man of Intrigue and I were married. Amelia Earhart’s Godfather (who was out of town doing training with the Army) was even in our wedding party. It’s just nice and comfortable to be with friends who are like family, even if that means hanging out in the attic and using the shop vac on the water leaking from the air conditioning unit.
4. There was one thing that was tough about the trip. I haven’t been back to that part of Georgia since we were stationed there almost six and a half years ago. When I crossed the county line, I had a visceral reaction. My heart started racing and tears welled up in my eyes. The five years we spent there were full of such intense emotions. There were the highest highs- Amelia Earhart and Gertrude Bell were born there- and the lowest lows. The International Man of Intrigue went through back to back 12 and 15 month deployments with barely a year in between the two while we lived there. Some of my Fellow Adventurers know the tightness that sits on your chest when you think too hard about those long, hard years. Sure, there were bright spots, friendships that are still treasured, babies born, First Communions and first days of school, but they’re still tinged with the pain of family members away at war, some who didn’t come back, or came back irrevocably changed. Gertrude Bell and Amelia Earhart asked to drive by the hospital where they were born, the churches where they were baptized, and our old house. I indulged them with a smile and told them stories as we drove by the old places that they don’t really remember and that I won’t forget.
5. Are any one else's kids absolutely nuts on school nights? I know my kids just aren’t fully adjusted to being back to the grind, but I’m starting to understand the appeal of boarding school. Also, Laura Ingalls Wilder has learned how to ask, “Why?” That should all be sufficient to explain why I’m going to wrap up my five so I can watch X-Files and drink the rest of a mint slush with cucumber vodka that I found in the back of the freezer while I was trying to cobble something together for dinner.
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