Friday, August 22, 2008

It's a Schoolish Sort of Day

Sssshhhhh! Babydoll and Bug are taking their end-of-year tests.

Hunk O Man is administering these tests, because he has a Bachelor's degree and I do not. When I explained that apparently he knows more about doing these tests than I do, he laughed. I took that as a nice compliment. Which I needed, after a heart-to-heart with one of my teenagers about where her life and priorities are versus where I think they should be.

I am also doing Bug's transcripts so she can return to high school for her senior year (after coming home and completing her junior year as homeschooling as of April). I'm glad she's doing this; she'll graduate with her twin sister Rose, and that's important. There are a lot of things that happen your senior year in a high school that are so common to us as Americans that I think they really shouldn't be missed.

I spent the day shopping with Bunny yesterday. She is a riot. I always enjoy her company. I made her promise she would always come home and shop with me for Christmas, wherever her life takes her. I think there may be airline tickets in her future.

I've spent a lot of time with people this week, and that has worn me out. But it's good! Monday, I took Ms. Myrtle to her doctor's appointment and heard all about her life. She narrated to me the years of five children and five husbands, and working and living in NC and FL. It took her mind off a potential procedure she was to have, that was uncomfortable. Turns out she didn't need it after all! I got lunch for she and Wiley and I at Chick-fil-a and she nearly had a fit trying to pay me for it. I was having none of it. I won that one.

The next day, Tuesday, I drove them both to Rocky Mount to have Wiley's dental work done. I was at their house at 6:00AM -- a true departure for me, as I'm normally up around 8, but I was glad to do it because they are such dears. We drove down, had breakfast at Hardee's (GREAT chicken biscuit, by the way!), and once again we befuddled the poor cashier by Ms. Myrtle attempting to pay for my breakfast and me refusing. I won that one too.

And then yesterday, I met Ms. Nancy (church secretary and unofficial associate pastor, person who knows everything and everybody and everything about everybody, and general person who runs the church) for coffee at Starbucks. She gave me a Starbucks card and said "This is from Myrtle." I looked and her and sighed. She immediately said, in her soft, southern drawl, "You know you can't do anything with her." I laughed. She's right. You just can't.

Yesterday Babydoll and I rode over to Ms. Myrtle's and had a brief visit. She was glad to see Babydoll and insisted they go out to lunch once school starts. I think that they will find no lack of things to talk about. Ms. Myrtle mentioned that she hoped I had enjoyed my coffee that morning with Ms. Nancy. Talk about a small town.

Wednesday was a tennis match and more town gossip with Michelle, the tennis coach. That woman knows everyone as well, and certainly has her ear to what's happening in the town. I finally know why the bugs are so thick this year. And I have zero idea as to why the tennis courts aren't finished yet. Hmmm. It pays to know people around here.

And a wasp stung me yesterday! I have never been stung by anything other than a sweat bee, so far as I know. These things hurt! It seems I can't go outside for five minutes without getting bitten or stung by something. If only squirrels ate bugs, we'd be in business. The girls constantly scream about all the spiders -- but I like them. They eat the bugs. Perhaps this is why I've never been much of a gardener. Flying, stinging, biting bugs. True definitions for the word "pest."

So it's a low-key day, and Hunk O Man wants me to listen to something called "Straight from the Mouth of a Pastor's Kid" from "Defining Moments," which is an audio journal from the Willow Creek Association. I am hopeful that it will shed some light on my relationship with my girls. I'll let you know --

So it's back to normality here, and possibly a giveaway in the near future --

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