
I’m slowing down once again. I’ve been too busy, including too busy to blog. Let me tell you a story I started writing about three weeks ago, and didn’t make time to finish.
Along with my regular life stuff, I was working on the finishing decluttering and finding homes for everything project. My goal had been to get it done by the end of April. I realized that this wasn’t going to happen because there were so many decisions that I needed to make with Bobby, and I was leaving for New York City the next morning. Still, I hoped that I could get through the rest of my personal areas…
I needed to mow the lawn before I left for my trip and I allotted two hours to do this. I had mowed the cul-de-sac and half of the front yard when the lawnmower died. Two hours turned into five hours as my father and I tried unsuccessfully to fix it, and I drove to his house to pick up his mower, finished the lawn, and returned the mower to his house.
At some point, I had the thought: this is a pain in the arse. This surprised me.
- I don’t use language like that.
- I never mentally mispronounce words.
When I started listening to Uniformity with God’s Will, (a favorite lawnmowing audio book) instead of the YouTube videos I was previously listening to, I became aware that I was complaining to, rather than thanking, God. After all, He knows what’s best for me. What do I know? I planned all of those other things to do, but obviously they were not to be…
And that’s the end of my story.
I left the next day for New York City with my friend, Manda, from high school. We had a lovely night together, including seeing the Harry Potter play with Tom Felton playing Draco Malfoy. He is the actor who played Draco in the movies. Scared? Potter! It was so much fun. The book made no sense to me, but seeing it live was enjoyable and at times hilarious. She left the next day and I spent a few days in the hotel that Bobby was staying at for work. I was feeling quite tired and besides going to Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and Adoration and Mass at a church near Washington Park, I mostly rested on the couch in the hotel. I had chosen that church (St. Joseph’s in Greenwich Village) because I had seen a YouTube video about a huge increase in attendance there. I had heard they had 88 people receive the sacraments of Baptism or Confirmation at the Easter Vigil this year.
And yes, this is a catch-up post. Here are some other happenings from the past month.
- I’ve stopped putting bird seed and suet out in my feeders because there has been a pack of five bears roaming around our neighborhood.
- I took Hannah shopping for a prom dress.
- Bobby was on vacation for a week and we spent the evenings watching movies. One night we even went out to the movies with the five “kids” who still live with us. We saw Michael, which I loved, because I was a HUGE Michael Jackson fan in the early 80’s.
- Mother’s Day was great as usual. Mass and visits first with my mom, and then my father’s partner (named Cheryl). Lots of relaxing with my fam… including takeout from Taco Bell and watching 13 Going on 30. Everyone made me feel so special, especially Bobby.
- I went to Hannah and Mary’s art show at the high school. And I went to my nephew Edward’s band concert. It was his last one as he will be graduating soon.
- I went shopping with Sarah for something new for her to wear at her college graduation. We saw some statues of Yoda and E.T., who were two of my childhood favorites before I covered my walls with Michael posters.
- I spent a day prepping for Sarah’s graduation party.
- Then there was Mary’s birthday, which was a crazy busy day. I dropped Mary off at school, Hannah off at her school retreat, went to Sarah’s graduation ceremony from 9-4, picked up Mary at home, drove to Red Robin for an early dinner that we had planned for her birthday, then to Stanley Park for Hannah’s (rescheduled because of rain) tennis senior night, and home for cake, presents, and games.
- Yesterday was more prep and the graduation party!
So today, I am just resting. I’m looking forward to going back to the basics again tomorrow. I think I’m going to track my time to see how long things take. And I’ll try not to plan too much for a while.
I’ll end this post with a few pictures.







































