Summer is ending, as it must. Me waiting outside for a friend to pick me up:
Leah and Dan went kayaking one night. Leah and I had a relaxing pontoon ride around a lake with RS women another night. There have been bike rides and walks around the neighborhood. Last movies watched. A campfire. Thrift store shopping. The girls finished their last days at work. Carson has a tech job for the school district, so he's still doing that. We ate Dairy Queen Blizzards. Had a game night at our friends’ house.
I went to lunch with my proctoring friends. One friend came late after we were seated, looked around the restaurant, saw us, and loudly told the hostess, "I see them! There's my tribe!" and I loved that. These women are so fun and such good friends. They're my tribe, too. At this lunch, we heard an exciting update: our friend diagnosed with cancer last fall, who started plan B treatment in the winter when cancer spread further, told us plan B worked and the cancer has now retreated to the point they are calling it "unmeasurable"!!! We celebrated with her at this lunch. Her hair is growing back, she feels stronger and healthier, she can drink and eat cold things again, her chemo treatments have lessened, and she'll be proctoring with us again. It was a fun proctoring reunion before school starts.
Carson started his three online college classes last week and starts high school next week. He has A and B scheduled days for high school... one day he has just one 90-minute morning class, and on the alternate day he has two 90-minute morning classes. Then he can come home to work on his online classes, eat lunch, nap and relax, and go back for soccer practice and games. It's a nice hybrid option for him.
Paige finished packing yesterday, watched Carson's first soccer game of the season, and flew back to college. One more semester, she can do it!
Leah finishes packing today, and she and I fly to Utah tomorrow. I'm helping her move into her new apartment that she'll share with good friends who were her freshman roommates.
Colby finished his summer internship and moved into a new apartment for his last semester of college. He also got a job as a TA for a networking class. He's flying to California with friends right when Leah and I land, so we may or may not be able to see him briefly at the airport.
Dan and Carson are planning a camping and hiking trip this weekend while I'm gone.
I'm already signed up for a month of proctoring when I come home, and I need my eyes to work well, so even though I'm heading to Utah, I'm putting off my next cataract surgery for now. I have no time to let that eye heal and adjust and get used to not wearing glasses before I need to be staring at small words on computer screens for many hours each day for four weeks.
I feel like we had a full summer -- some traveling, some working, some recreation, some culture, some relaxing -- with enough time to rest from school and stress, enough time for a few existential crises had by all, enough time for questioning all past and current and future decisions and plans, and enough time to pull ourselves back together and feel ready to continue forward. Phew! We did it.
