Way behind! Belated hello to senior year!

How did I get so behind?! Retired life is way too busy.

Amy kicked off her senior year, and finally things are nearly back to normal at school. She's one of the few kids still wearing a mask, but beyond that it's back to being how it was pre-pandemic. What a relief.

She is knee-deep in the fall play, staying after school five days a week and going in early two or three 

So far so good with all of her classes, and she is busy working on college applications (Shenandoah University and Christopher Newport University are her main choices). 

Let's hope it's a fantastic year!

There he goes

It has been so great having Reed home from college this summer! Even though he was busy with work, we still got some good quality time together. No "real" vacation, but we did go to MT for Sam's wedding and had some nice times with family, and then to NYC to see some shows and the sights. Would have been preferable to Reed that we didn't do the NYC trip (he'd rather just stay home!) but I think he had fun anyway.

This summer on his days off, you might find Reed on the front porch swing with a book...one of my favorite sights to see. He had a handful of outings with his high school friends, and I think he also really enjoyed his job at the summer camp.

A couple of weeks ago we drove down to Harrisonburg to check out the apartment we rented for him. It's a two bedroom, two bathroom condo on the second floor of an older complex, and he'll be living with his friend Will, who he met in class last year. Will seems a lot like Reed so it's no wonder they get along so well. I hope they'll enjoy living together (and I hope he'll clean the bathroom from time to time). 

Yesterday Reed headed back to school. Since we'd already done one trip, and the apartment is furnished, there was no reason for us to go down with him. So instead of us driving away from Harrisonburg, it was him driving away from home. It's so hard! We miss him already, but are so excited to see how he does with living in an apartment instead of a dorm. They made a dinner of spaghetti, garlic bread and salad last night so they're off to a good start!

We are very proud of Reed and know he's going to do great again this year. 

I so wish I had been there!

Yesterday at Reed's work they were having a field day, and that included a DUNK TANK!! Reed got in the tank and talked a bunch of smack to his group of five kids he was in charge of, sure they wouldn't be able to dunk him. But they did! Too bad we don't have that on video, I'd watch it over and over!

Look who's 50!

We have been celebrating Tod's 50th for a little while now. Started with a party with the Mitchell side of the family to celebrate all our June and July birthdays, then a small party at our house with neighbors, a few friends and the Wenzells, and then just our family last night for Tod's actual birthday. I hope he feels as celebrated as he deserves to be. We went to dinner last night, then came home to open gifts and have more cake and ice cream, then we played Skip Bo and had a Zoom call with Tod's siblings to finish things off. A great day.

Tod gave me a jar with notes on "50 reasons we love you" when I turned 50, so I did the same for him. The kids each did five cards, and these were my 40:

1. You love naps.
2. You like to stay home.
3. You truly love your job.
4. You set goals and then reach them.
5. You make the same (bad) jokes over and over.
6. You love #DadJokes.
7. You didn't really want a cat, but you love Eddie.
8. You give our kids an amazing example of how to live.
9. You support me in all that I do.
10. You teach our kids things they need to know.
11. You are dedicated to your family.
12. You are super smart.
13. You take good care of our finances, so I don't worry about it.
14. Everyone knows they can count on you.
    
15. You value your time and spend it wisely.
16. You tell Larson family stories and everyone loves it.
17. You walk with me most every morning and evening.
18. You found a fun sport that you enjoy doing.
19. You really really really love Top Gun.
20. You love ice cream (me too).
21. You miss your parents (me too).
22. You honor your parents by being an amazing person.
23. You love a "special treat" drink from McDonald's (me too).
24. You serve our community on the pantry board.
25. You're always up to go to a concert with me.
26. You are self-assured and confident.
27. You track my whereabouts on your phone, to be sure I'm safe.
28. You make sure we can always park our cars in the garage.
29. You enjoy volunteering with theatre.
30. You appreciate a quiet morning drinking coffee.
31. You are even-tempered.
32. You love my family as much as your own.
33. You enjoy doing things with my family.
34. You are good at parties even though socializing is stressful for you.
35. You make Elf references in June.
36. You put up with me not wanting to eat the same kind of food two nights in a row.
37. You are a supportive father.
38. You love our family traditions.
39. You also have trouble getting rid of stuff (it's a process).
40. You are a good sport.

Here's to many more happy, healthy years!

[The fact that I typed this list up before writing it down on the cards is one of the reasons we get along so well, by the way.]

Melancholy, I guess

It's been so good having Reed home for the last six weeks, but I swear about two weeks in I was already pre-sad that he would be leaving again in August. Not to mention that once Amy is back to school in August, we will hardly see her, and then a year from now she will be off to college too.

Sure it's the natural order of things, and the way it's all supposed to go, but that doesn't mean it can't still be difficult and sad! You spend all these years having these people around you every single day, and then suddenly (if you can call "after 18+ years" 'suddenly') you're just supposed to let them go? What kind of insanity is this? It just feels kinda lonely is what I'm saying. 

Of course I want Reed and Amy to be successful adults, living on their own, but man it is it an adjustment to our lives as parents to think about that. I wonder how often we'll get to see them, how often we'll talk, where they're live, whether they'll be okay, whether we'll be around to be part of their lives. 

Something clever about the Circle of Life here

I suppose all we can do is to prepare them, and ourselves, as best as we can for the different seasons life brings us.

Catching up

Clearly I haven't been writing too many posts here, I haven't posted anything since Amy's birthday more than three months ago.

Let's see, we did college tours over spring break, visiting Old Dominion University (a hearty 'maybe'), Christopher Newport University (a big thumbs up, because it has a theatre arts management degree) and James Madison University [heard of it? 😉] (polite thumbs down). Still on her list to consider is Shenandoah University in Winchester, but we decided to wait until school is back in session to go there so we can get a true feel for it. 

Amy went to prom and had a good time with her friends. The dress we ordered from amazon fit perfectly and she looked lovely.

Reed finished up his freshman year at JMU, and made the Dean's List again (woo hoo!). The last part of the year seemed to be pretty strange with him and his roommate not really talking to each other, just co-existing, but at least there was no drama to go along with that. Reed was glad to get home to his own room and a private shower...Shorts Hall was a terrible dorm and I'm glad it's in the rear view mirror. 

Reed applied for a job with Loudoun County Public Schools as a substitute teacher, but started on the process a little too late to get any work in this school year. Hopefully he will be all set for next school year whenever he's home on break, though. He applied for a job with the Loudoun Parks & Rec's summer camp program, and was hired to work at the Dulles Rec Center's program. He's been at it a few weeks, including the setup and training time, and it seems to be going well so far. The camps take trips most days to either a hiking spot or Kings Dominion. I think he is worn out after working a 10-hour day in the heat. But he seems to like it, and it pays pretty well ($15.50/hour) so that's good!

Tod, Reed and I flew to Montana for Sam and Madison's wedding in Roundup, and had a great time seeing everyone. Tod stayed behind and went with Sam, Martha and a bunch of Sam's friends on a five-day river float, which he loved. He stayed in MT for 18 days total.

Amy and her friend Tree at the Cappies Gala

Amy got to get dressed up fancy again to go to the Cappies awards (local high school theatre awards) which are held at the Kennedy Center. 

I got to chaperone the Fine Arts field trip with dinner at Red Robin and then on to the Kennedy Center to see "Jersey Boys" as well, which was fun! I even met actress Phylicia Rashad, which was wild. The night was a little awkward for Amy as she had just broken up with Ashley a week before, but she was a trooper. 

With Kayla Zee and Tree
at Jersey Boys

Amy finished up her junior year, which is hard to believe. We are now just 2.5 weeks into summer break and she's already wishing school would start again...well, not really school so much as theatre. She has just started working for David's real estate business, helping him out with social media and other stuff TBD. I hope it goes well!

Just after Amy finished up with school, she flew to Montana by herself to join Tod and go to Shane and Hannah's wedding in Wibaux. She got to hang out with her aunts and cousins and they had a nice visit. 

Let's see, what else? The country has gone haywire and things are not great, but still we persist.

17!

Amy celebrated her 17th birthday by having a show for musical theatre class, which she is the teacher's assistant for. "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" had its first showing on her birthday and then again the following night, and it was a super funny show. I think it was a little tiring to spend your birthday going to school and then staying at theater for five plus hours after that, but she was with her people so it was all good!

It's been a big week or two, with Amy being asked to prom by Ashley, who she also does stage management with. So now they are officially dating and that's a whole new world for us, since Reed hasn't jumped in that particular pool just yet. We will all find our way through it! 😀 I am happy that she's going to her first high school dance, and she was excited to choose a prom dress to order online (now we are anxiously awaiting its arrival and hoping it fits without alterations!). Many more decisions still to come – shoes, hair, jewelry, dinner location, and more. 

I am very grateful that this has been a semi-normal junior year, though it's not been without its covid-related challenges. When our *^@($_ governor decided to stop localities from requiring masks at school, that was particularly hard for Amy, and she is still wearing a mask and is not comfortable being around those at school who aren't (well, she happily has meals next to lots of people not wearing masks, but that doesn't count in her mind). When you've been told to do something to keep people safe for nearly two years, I understand that it's hard to make the switch. So we do our best to support her, while also trying to help her understand that the risks are not the same as they once were, and we're not going to wear masks forever (though it sure was nice not to go nearly two years without getting a cold!). 

Amy spends pretty much five days a week after school at theater, and sometimes Saturdays too. It's a full schedule and a tiring one, but clearly she enjoys it and I think she still has enough time to do some fun things with friends and also have down time. 

She is starting to think about what she might want to do after high school graduation, which is exciting. We have a few college tours lined up for spring break next month, so we will see what she thinks about the whole idea now that it's closer to reality....I think when she visited CNU, VCU and JMU with Reed, it was too far-off of a concept. 

Happy #17, Amy, we love you so much and are so proud of you!