Tuesday 5: Of Firsts and Lasts

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. 

Tuesday 5: Diet and Exercise

1. So, I’m on day 24 of my newly turned leaf of eating right and working out. It’s going pretty well. I’m not losing a ton of weight, but my body shape is really changing. My daily workout is free online—it’s a site called Bikini Body Mommy. The pros are that it’s free and it really works. You can also pay an extra $1.99/mo (Canadian) and access extra workouts. I’ve done that and added the ab workout to my daily routine. The cons were none until this week. She lets her preschool age kid interrupt the workout and it’s really annoying. He starts out screaming in the background, then he wanders in and is in the way. I have four Little Explorers of my own who are constantly interrupting my workouts, despite the fact that I do them at 6:15 in the morning. I don’t need to listen to her annoying kid screaming and her jacking around with him. Today, I did better at tuning it out and got in a decent workout, but in the future, I may skip those weeks and repeat a different week instead. 

2. I’ve also been eating well. I have had some major milestones this week. Yesterday I went to Costco hungry. I filled the cart, but it was with things like red bell peppers and watermelon instead of chips. This weekend, The Intrigue Family attended the Kansas City Royals game, and due to unexpected events, we were a bit late getting home. Since we knew it would be cutting it close to bedtime on a school night, we opted to do drive thru McDonalds for dinner. The Little Explorers got Happy Meals, The International Man of Intrigue got his favorite Big Mac meal, and I got…wait for it…a Diet Coke. I waited to eat until we got home, even though I was starving. I did ask The International Man of Intrigue if licking Laura Laura Ingalls Wilder’s fries before I gave them to her counted as calories. I don’t know why he laughed. I was at least mostly serious.

3. Amelia Earhart and Gertrude Bell are on their second week of school. It seems like we’ve been able to ease into the school year since The International Man of Intrigue was off work again this week- the last of his use or lose leave- and Arthur Dent doesn’t start VPK (Voluntary Pre Kindergarten in the State of Florida) until next week. (Check this spot in the next Tuesday Five for consternation and hysterics as I send my baby boy off to school.) Next week, we’ll have school and activities in full force, so I have to step up and focus on menu planning and meal prep so afternoons and evenings are tolerable and The Intrigues who get hangry can avoid meltdown. 

4. I’m having trouble with what seems like a big decision I need to make in the next week or so. The previous two years, I was a member of a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group at a local church. I had to quit in January of last year when it became clear that there were some denominational prejudices the host church had against my particular choice of denomination. That’s another story, but several friends have asked me to join a MOPS group at a different local church. Part of me longs for the spiritual boost and the opportunity to make new friends. Part of me is exhausted after twelve years of making friends and moving, or watching them move. Friendships don’t fit in a moving truck. It’s amazing and wonderful to have friends all over the world. I find it astounding that I, Dorothy Gale, from small town Kansas, have not only lived all over the world, but that I could sign off from writing this blog and message my friends in Zimbabwe, or California, or Poland, or India. I also find it hard, the making of new friends every few years. I know part of my hesitation is also because of an inherent anti-Catholic bias I’ve experienced both times we’ve lived in the south, and that caused me to leave my last group. I have no reason to believe that bias is present in the new MOPS group, but it makes me anxious all the same. I don’t know the answer to my hesitation to put myself out there again.

5. I just finished reading Judy Blume’s new book, “In the Unlikely Event.” It had a good plot and the character development was spot on. I love that one of the favorite authors of my childhood now writes books I savor as an adult. Now I’m reading, “For The Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards” by Jen Hatmaker. Let me tell you, this woman gets me. She really gets me. I’ve laughed and cried, and I’m only halfway finished.