Never Enough

As I walked out of my school last night at 5:30, because I HAD to pick my son up by 6, I thought: there's never enough time in the day.

This is very much evidenced by the fact that I have not posted in ages!!! And, because I know I tend to ramble, I will try to quickly summarize the things going on in my life, and give you pictures to fill in the gaps.

I've pulled my back out somehow, and can't get it feeling good no matter what I tried. Helping my son's teacher set up their classroom two weekends ago was the kicker. Thought I had it taken care of, but a week back at work has it all out of sorts again.

In an effort to try to help the back problem, I've decided that probably being in good physical condition would help. So, yesterday I took my first ever yoga class. I've done pilates before, but definitely liked the yoga better. Today I purchased my own yoga mat and strap. Yum.

The Boy has finally started school. His school purchased a new property late last year and began renovations just before the summer. They didn't make their scheduled deadline. Usually his school starts the Tuesday after Labor Day. That week they took 4 different field trips - one each day. The following week school was canceled. Now they are finally up and running, sort of. The older kids still don't have their own buildings, but since that has very little to do with me, and they are at least utilizing space elsewhere on the campus, I'm not all that concerned.

My sister and brother-in-law now live in a different country. Not that my sister and I are extremely close or anything, but we do love each other, and well, with all the stresses that I've been going through (think that has anything at all to do with my back????), I cried the first night she was gone. She and Scott came to stay with us for a few days before they shipped out - between packing and selling their house in NC, and shipping their car overseas as well. I guess I just took for granted that she was still "here" even though she's lived in a different state for the last 3 years, and now, well, it's not like that's a long-weekend kinda visit anymore.

I do plan to visit over the Summer. Bonus of being a teacher, huge planning time for trips! But it seems like a long time away, and we won't have the normal "keep me awake while I drive home from work" conversations each day. She had about an hours' commute for a while in North Carolina, and we did more talking during that time period than we did for probably the previous 5 years.

Last, but most definitely not least, we have finally put Grammy in her eternal resting place next to her late husband. The headstone with her name added is at the top of this post. On September 13th we flew to Vermont for her memorial service. This is the part I'll tell in pictures:


The Boy loves his Grammy. Here he is having a nice conversation with her. One cute/funny note. The day we held the service (not this day, we were just stopping by to drop off flowers and see that everything was ready) a cute little froggy was hanging out here. He stayed the entire service, even when my dad placed her urn in the ground. Odd.

We took a ferry ride. The ferry goes across Lake Champlain, from South Hero/Grand Isle, Vermont to Plattsburgh, New York. It was a gorgeous day.


He got to pick apples with his girlfriend, Sarah. Note that, even though Sarah is actually his COUSIN, she was always referred to as his "sister." This time, though, she's been promoted to "girlfriend." Cute.

He even got to drive the tractor back from the field!!! The owner of the orchard (Allenholm Farm Market) is an old family friend. We did all the island stops the same day as Grammy's memorial service, and The Boy was treated like a king because of it. He got lots of special privileges - like driving the tractor (okay, I was a bit concerned, but Ray assured me it was safe - we were only going 5 mph, after all), and I swear they would have let us walk out without paying for the bag of apples we picked if I hadn't asked about it before we left.

Overall, the town was very kind and generous to us, as usual. Everyone had such wonderful things to say about my Grammy. She was a wonderful woman and did so very much "good" in her lifetime. She is missed.

Even though we went there for such a serious occasion, we also got to enjoy ourselves and remember exactly what it is about Vermont that held Grammy there for so long, and that drew the family there to begin with. The people are so much more polite, charming, and laid back. I plan to take The Boy back more often, and to visit for my own mental health once in a while as well. It is a remarkably beautiful part of our country, and life there feels so very different from our busy, hectic run-around days!

More later, but I thought it was time I posted these pictures. Of course, there were yarn acquisitions, and I'll get that part of the trip up soon.