The Last Hoorah

Each summer we go to the lake with the cousins for one "end of summer" weekend before school starts.  This year was no exception.  After what felt like 129 days of 100+ degree weather, relief finally arrived last weekend, and the days were gorgeous.  August in Kansas is rarely this beautiful. 

But, as all weekends go, there was some good.....some bad.....and a little ugly.  Here is what we saw.

THE GOOD

Splashing each other with the jet ski provided hours of giggling fun.  This looks worse than it was....at least according to my husband.  I was doing a small amount of freaking out from the shore.  For those who don't know, this lake has had its fair share of accidents and drownings this year.  I was not looking to add one more to the list.

They just never get tired of it.  NEVER.  I think my husband literally logs nearly 6-8 hours every day.  And he has the hair to prove it.

THE BAD

 This puts a major damper on the day, but luckily it was only down for a few hours.

THE UGLY

I do not even want to think about what might be lurking in that water.  This is where my 5 year old spends a great deal of time.  He loves snails, mussels, and his new favorite creepy-crawly....crawdads. 

And, yes, I realize that he has only one foot in the water and he is wearing a lifejacket.  That's the rule for the kids - if any part of your body is near the lake, the lifejacket must be on. (It is not a rule for the adults, although you couldn't tell it by looking at these pictures!)  It allows me to cope.  If only that lifejacket would protect him from all that nastyness he is sitting in.

Aforementioned crawdad.  Caught. With a cool whip dish.  The poor thing never saw it comin'.  I spent much of the weekend dreading the reaction I would get when I my son was told the crawdad could not come home.

And this, my friends, is what a very serious crawdad conversation looks like.  Uncle J is the crawdad expert.  He knows all about what they eat, how they come out at night, and that when you shine a flashlight at them at night, their eyes glow red.  I think Uncle J should keep information like that to himself, unless he wants to stay up all night sitting at the edge of the lake with a flashlight.

I am only so risky with my camera at the lake, which means no jet ski riding for the camera.  Usually that works out just fine.  This weekend I apparently missed some pretty great shots.  Here is what I wish I had seen:

• The look on my son's face when a skunk ran right in front of him on the way to the shower house.
• My husband being thrown off the jet ski by his 12 year old niece.  A video of him flying off the jet ski when she turned a tight corner would have been priceless.
• My SIL and BIL noticing a stranded boat taking on water with a family of 6 inside.  My husband arrived within a few seconds and they all decided he should be the one to tow the boat to shore.  A few seconds after they hooked up the rope to the boat, my BIL and SIL took off on their jet ski, turned too sharp toward the cove, and dumped the jet ski over.  I'm thinking the family of 6 was feeling pretty happy that they did not choose them as their taxi!
• The look on my husband's face when a kayak passed him while he was swimming the jet ski to the cove after it ran out of gas.  We have always wondered if the reserve gas tank works on the jet ski.  Now we know.  It doesn't. 



The Weight of the World

I've always wondered about that saying.


Because, really, does anyone actually know how much the world weighs?  Has someone literally put it on a scale?


This week I am not wondering so much. 


I guess that is the answer.  When you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, you just know it.


And it is........HEAVY.


Here's the thing.  At the moment, the weight is not coming from a load of junk happening directly to me.  I am not sifting through rubble or putting pieces back together.


The weight is coming from feeling HELPLESS.  All of the sudden there is so much going on around me.  People are hurting.  People are sick.  People need answers.


I don't have them.


Family members are in the hospital. Family members are hurting each other. It's a mixed up mess of emotions.
 
Still no answers.
 
I have two brothers-in-law.  (Which, by the way, has always sounded like the most ridiculous plural form of a word.)  Both of them are spinning in cycles of grief.  One has been in ICU for five days.  He is not doing well.  The other suddenly lost his 30-something younger brother yesterday morning. 

Helpless.

There are no words.  Just love.  Support.  And carrying each other's burdens.

Wipeout

In my mind, "Wipeout" is only a song we played in pep band at football games.

Sadly, this is not the same for my children.

They have become a bit fascinated with that obnoxious television show.

Turning the entire house into a wipeout zone.

 

And making me cringe as they fly through the air to hit the target.

It has provided hours of fun....and so far not one stitch or broken bone.



Just a huge mess, which of course is never picked up exactly right, and no $50,000 grand prize.



Random

Last weekend we went to the lake.  It looked like this.  It NEVER looks like this. 

Well, that's a lie.  Obviously, it looked like this on this day. 

No wind at all.  The only waves were from other boats.  Perfect skiing water at 11:00 a.m.

He jumped wake after wake.  He flew through the air.  I took picture after picture.  I failed every single time.

This is as good as it got.

Amazing water. 

I know I have said that already.  It just so rarely happens in Kansas.

 On a slightly random note, this child is in love with snails.

Gross, slimy, nasty snails.

But the expression is kinda worth it.

And on a completely random note, this is "SuperKid".

T-shirt, Snowsuit, House robe, Insulated Gloves.

Temperature outside: 112 degrees. 

Here We Go....

Today marks the first day in nine years of working full time. 

Needless to say, I am nervous. 

So far, the kids are excited about going to grandma's house most days until school starts.  So far, the laundry is caught up and the meals are planned for the week.  So far, everyone is happy and rested.

So far....

But it is only Monday. 

I have a strange little feeling that by next week we might not all be feeling so cheery and organized. 

I will be working while the kids are in school - at the same school.  I get to take them there and take them home.  I can walk down a hallway and eat lunch with them whenever I want.  When June and July come around, my hours decrease significantly.  So, for a "full-time" job, I really can't complain. 

There are a few aspects, however, that make me sad. 

There are the obvious things - not as much time at home, less time to read for fun, less time to stay on top of the daily stuff that just has to get done.

Another shift will be my time with friends.  Not that I spend a ton of time just hanging out with friends, but being at home afforded the luxury of virtual time chatting online, which fills a void when you can't drop everything and meet at the coffee shop to catch up or the park for a kid play-date. 

The more I work, the more I find myself less aware of the needs of others.  This is hard to admit, but it is reality.  I don't take the time to look outside of my life as much as I should and reach out like I should.  This is one area I am going to try really hard to work on.

I never thought I would second-guess working.  For that matter, I never thought I would NOT work.  My mom was a career woman, and I followed suit.  I was surprised several years ago when I discovered I wanted to pull way back and stay home much more.

The plan was always to go back when the kids were in school.  And now here we are....

Only time will tell how it goes. 

Get Motivated

Today I, along with half of the population of Kansas, went to the Get Motivated seminar in Wichita.   I have been to Wichita hundreds of times, and never have I sat on the interstate before 7:00 in the morning waiting at a dead standstill to get off at an exit. 

We covered two miles in a record-breaking 40 minutes, finally found a place to park about six blocks away, and accurately judged walking to the arena to be faster than waiting for a shuttle.  Once inside, we made our way up to the nosebleed section (featured as "Premier Seating") to find the place completely packed. 

This kind of situation always lends itself to some entertaining people watching.  I am intrigued to observe how individuals handle various types of adversity.  Some people were disgusted with the fact that they had to go to overflow seating and watch via satellite.  Many were annoyed that the event planners oversold the number of tickets for seating in the arena.  For the most part, however, there was no major revolting...at least that I saw. 

All in all, it was a pretty good day.  I am not typically hung up on celebrities, but it really was a lot to take in from some fairly prominent people.  Here are some of my favorite points gleaned from each of the speakers.

Rick Belluzo - INTEGRITY MATTERS! - Treat people well, do what you say you will do, set a high standard for behavior.  (Amen to that!!)

Lou Holtz - Do what is right, do everything to the best of your ability, show people that you care.  Never criticize the performer; you may criticize the performance.

General Colin Powell - Trust is the key factor.  When trust is built, people will follow you through almost anything.  When trust is destroyed, there is no foundation.

Rudy Giuliani - Keep Reading Books!  (He said a lot more really great stuff, but that key point was enough for me!)

Bill Cosby - GET UP and just DO IT. Oh, and my favorite....if you want to motivate your employees to do better and work harder.....just start showing them videos of unemployed people looking for work.  I loved, loved, loved Bill Cosby when I was a kid, and he did not disappoint today!

Terry Bradshaw - It's all about people and relationships; show people you care.

Bob Harrison  - I was shocked to hear that when asked what people wanted more of in the seminar, the top answer was spirituality.  This guy did a great job of presenting the Christ in a pretty straight forward way. 

Steve Forbes and Bill Self were also on the list, but one spoke first thing while we were searching for seating, and the other spoke at the very end, which looked to be about 45 minutes after the day was actually supposed to end.  As much as I love KU, heading home at 5:00 trumped Bill Self (not to mention, my Ohio, Alabama, and Florida-raised colleagues didn't have quite so much affection for my Jayhawks!). 

Yes, there were some frustrating moments.  Yes, there were some sales pitches that we had to endure.  No, I didn't win the flat screen TV, the Disney vacation, or the $10,000, but I can safely say my motivation level was raised at least slightly.  That's good enough for me!

But $10,000 sure wouldn't have hurt my feelings.

5 Year Old Obedience

From daddy to the 5 yo while handing him a cupcake:  "Try to be really careful and not make a mess and get chocolate everywhere."

5 yo:  "OKAY!!"