End of a Season

When you have kids in school and activities, it always feels like seasons are marked differently than traditional calendars. Tonight is the big finale of show choir. Two performances and then the dresses will be packed away, probably forever as each year new costumes are ordered for the new theme. While soccer has started to a certain extent, DD#2 will be full on soccer mode by the end of April. She does have another month of school play practice, and then weekend performances the first week of May. In another three years, I will mark the year as winter, spring, summer, and fall,  For now, it will be cross country, show choir, soccer, and rest! Of course, just like the play, she is always throwing in additional "seasons".  

However, June 13th starts a new  chapter in parenting. She starts Drivers Education.  She was originally signed up for April but the play threw that off, then in six months she can take her test in January on or after her birthday. I may be free from the taxi cab in less than a year. I don't know which part of my brain is dominant-the fearful one of another kid driving, or the happy dance one, ready to have a bit more control of my schedule. As I juggle work and her schedule, this week, happy dance mom is winning.

So Much and So Little

This weekend I coordinated the annual Palm Sunday breakfast at church.  I was not on my game leading up to it, but the cavalry was available in the shape of our church chef who took command of the kitchen and I could general the front of the house. Still, with delicious food, kids and parents that put their backs and smiles into the morning, it was not our best event. It is spring break in our community, thus no scheduled Sunday school.  Add the number of families that choose to sleep in or not wrangle restless kids in worship, families on vacation, and snowbirds not yet back becasue Easter is in March this year, and we served at least 80 fewer than we planned for. This is a fundraiser for the kids, so their hourly return will be pretty minimal, even with the bulk of the food donated. It is nearly the same amount of work serving 100 as it is 200, and we were later wrapping up leftover pancakes and French toast for people to take home. Uncooked food that can be used for the Wednesday suppers was put away. A quick debrief after and we decided we will need to move Palm Sunday, the breakfast, not the day, the next time it falls on spring break. 

Still, despite the low turnout, it was a good morning of fellowship, community building, and service. It was odd though working with other families and kids and none of mine there. DH poked his head in the kitchen once to see if there was enough help, ate breakfast, and went to church and then home to read the Sunday paper, take pup for a walk, and watch some college basketball. 

Once we returned the kitchen and hall to its rightful beginnings, it was time to head home. My knees ached. My back was sore, and my mind was spent as I always have nervous anxiety leading up to the day. The rest of the day was pretty much me slumped on my bed with ibuprofen. I got a little bit of fresh air and sun, but it was a deceiving sun. If you stepped out of a windbreak or into a shaded area, the warmth was gone and a biting March cold took its place. Neither of us felt like making anything for dinner-I had seen mountains of French toast and pancakes for hours, so I didn't want to see my stove. I would have been happy popping a batch of popcorn and calling it dinner. DH wanted real food so ran to Papa Murphy's, with a coupon for $3.00 off and bought a pizza to through in the oven, quite lazy of us both, but there's leftovers for lunch today. To sum up, my Sunday was spent doing so much, and doing so little.