Life continues to shower riches in abundant fullness on the Miser Family household. We've had some happy updates and some big changes this week.
We began the week in celebration at our second annual Super Hero Dinner, with 2/3 of my super children and all of my grandchild present, and a couple of heroic guests joining us for extra super festivity.
And then on Monday, my youngest child left home. (Pardon me while I pause a moment; something salty seems to have dislodged from my throat and gotten lost in my eyeball cavities).
N-son left Monday morning to head to his new school for an orientation/evaluation that is supposed to last "at least two weeks". Before he left, he gave me a tearful-and-sobby-but-brave hug good-bye. He was quiet for the whole 4-hour car ride with his dad. And then he entered the building of his new school where the guard at the desk took his ID picture to hang on his lanyard, and he lit up. He moved into his new bedroom that my husband described as reminding him of many army barracks rooms (admittedly, the Sargent's rooms, not 40-person halls full of bunks), with furniture designed for durability that has clearly already successfully survived generations of hardship. N-son seemed delighted, and when he discovered he could go to the cafeteria for lunch, he waved good-bye and told his dad he could leave now.
N since called me twice. Contents of the first call:
Contents of the second call:
J-son is also thriving. When he came down for the Super Hero dinner, I gave him his birthday presents: two copies of Netter's Anatomy (one in color, and one that he can color in). This goes with his current studies in sports therapy. And J-son was so into the book, that he wouldn't even look up to thank me. Which was actually the best kind of thanks I could get.
Did you know that everything goes through the heart from left to right? Now I do. J-son showed me the vena cava. He's studying that in school, and he thinks it's really cool that these books are like (maybe even exactly the same one) as what he's using in school. He's gotten an internship in a boxing gym, so that's good, too.
So what else is going on? My husband is not pregnant (phew!), but he's learned he's going to get an epidural anyway. Something about putting steroids into his spine. But first he has to have knee surgery -- but that's next week's news, not the past week. My husband's happiest moment this week was meeting the author Timothy Snyder in New York, and also doing whatever canvassing he can now, before next week's surgery lays him low for a while.
We got a really lovely letter from X-son, the child from Haiti who we tried unsuccessfully to adopt, and who we now try to support in place in his school. He's "in [his] last year of classical school", and looking good. He's had such a series of challenges, some of them self-imposed, so it's a relief and an encouragement and a joy to see him doing so well now. The letter is full of love and hope, and good for the heart. ('Scuse me while I take care of that eye-thing that seems to have come back momentarily.)
What else? I got to go to an amazing concert; one of the chorus members who got a solo was my very-own child, who just a few short days earlier was dressed as BatWoman, but who that night belted out an aria instead of belting villains. (Thanks for the tickets, I-daughter! My husband said he loved the whole concert, but that the best part for him was seeing me break into belly laughs at the transitions between songs).
And there was more, but this post has gone on long enough. We really do continue to be wealthy in our adventures; may you and yours be similarly prosperous.
We began the week in celebration at our second annual Super Hero Dinner, with 2/3 of my super children and all of my grandchild present, and a couple of heroic guests joining us for extra super festivity.
 |
| Look-it-me! I'm flying! |
N-son left Monday morning to head to his new school for an orientation/evaluation that is supposed to last "at least two weeks". Before he left, he gave me a tearful-and-sobby-but-brave hug good-bye. He was quiet for the whole 4-hour car ride with his dad. And then he entered the building of his new school where the guard at the desk took his ID picture to hang on his lanyard, and he lit up. He moved into his new bedroom that my husband described as reminding him of many army barracks rooms (admittedly, the Sargent's rooms, not 40-person halls full of bunks), with furniture designed for durability that has clearly already successfully survived generations of hardship. N-son seemed delighted, and when he discovered he could go to the cafeteria for lunch, he waved good-bye and told his dad he could leave now.
 |
| N-son with three of his many new friends. (I love this photo because it's obviously Not My House: plastic bags, soda, paper napkins, disposable cup, potato chips . . . ) |
- He made at least 10 friends the very first day.
- He's in a nice room; it has a steel bed! He might get a roommate soon, but he's not sure.
- He got to have pancakes and sausages at breakfast.
- He's spending his day in "evaluation". I asked what that means, and he explained he had one day where he did a "speed time thing with his hands"; another evaluation included OT for strength stuff: can he lift heavy things, like 70-75 lbs?
- There's a great gym, with a basketball court and bleachers. He's going to play flag football and join the intramural basketball league.
Contents of the second call:
He's not coming home for three weeks; he's decided that in addition to studying Culinary Arts and Materials Distribution (working in a warehouse), he also wants to study Building Maintenance. So he's sticking around for extra evaluation.At any rate, he's super happy.
J-son is also thriving. When he came down for the Super Hero dinner, I gave him his birthday presents: two copies of Netter's Anatomy (one in color, and one that he can color in). This goes with his current studies in sports therapy. And J-son was so into the book, that he wouldn't even look up to thank me. Which was actually the best kind of thanks I could get.
Did you know that everything goes through the heart from left to right? Now I do. J-son showed me the vena cava. He's studying that in school, and he thinks it's really cool that these books are like (maybe even exactly the same one) as what he's using in school. He's gotten an internship in a boxing gym, so that's good, too.So what else is going on? My husband is not pregnant (phew!), but he's learned he's going to get an epidural anyway. Something about putting steroids into his spine. But first he has to have knee surgery -- but that's next week's news, not the past week. My husband's happiest moment this week was meeting the author Timothy Snyder in New York, and also doing whatever canvassing he can now, before next week's surgery lays him low for a while.
We got a really lovely letter from X-son, the child from Haiti who we tried unsuccessfully to adopt, and who we now try to support in place in his school. He's "in [his] last year of classical school", and looking good. He's had such a series of challenges, some of them self-imposed, so it's a relief and an encouragement and a joy to see him doing so well now. The letter is full of love and hope, and good for the heart. ('Scuse me while I take care of that eye-thing that seems to have come back momentarily.)What else? I got to go to an amazing concert; one of the chorus members who got a solo was my very-own child, who just a few short days earlier was dressed as BatWoman, but who that night belted out an aria instead of belting villains. (Thanks for the tickets, I-daughter! My husband said he loved the whole concert, but that the best part for him was seeing me break into belly laughs at the transitions between songs).
And there was more, but this post has gone on long enough. We really do continue to be wealthy in our adventures; may you and yours be similarly prosperous.
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