Parenting two busy teenagers, one of whom is a classical ballet dancer in a pre-professional company, is a serious business these days! My husband recently told someone that I "run the [insert our last name] empire," and he's not wrong. Between paying bills, keeping house, cleaning, chauffeuring, cooking, grocerying, supervising homeschool, laundry, some part-time work, and countless volunteer hours for the ballet...well, I am not bored.
Here are a few tidbits from our busy, busy lives lately (I hope to see some calm after my daughter's spring ballet performance):
*I am in the last hour of listening to Anna Karenina (read with great success by Maggie Gyllenhaal) and I cannot wait to finish it so that I can then turn around and read everything about it--criticism, interpretations, etc. WOW! I have so much to say about Anna, Levin, Kitty.....whew. I can't wait to start reading about what I've been reading (surely this is one of the marks of a bibliophile?).
*We went to our first opera last month! We saw The Marriage of Figaro and we were all heavily invested in the narrative. It was so fun!
*Our spring break trip to Charleston was cancelled due to a flat tire that suddenly appeared on my car the morning we were set to leave (with a fully-loaded vehicle, coffee and muffins in hand....). So we stayed home and had a quiet week, and as it turned out, it was very, very good.
*Big changes are underway in schooling for my sweet Annie. Next year she's trying a brick and mortar school--I can hardly wrap my mind around this. But she is so excited to at least try it out. (She knows that her fallback will always be homeschooling, and having a safety net is nice!) She's got a few friends there already, we know several teachers/administrators, it's a small school....so it has potential. If you know Annie, you'll probably agree that she is a powerhouse of genuine kindness and solid determination packaged in one small, long-haired, graceful human. I am happy for her. Finn and I won't know what to do with ourselves, but I am happy for her!
*We have reservations to head to the midwest for the eclipse--if the weather cooperates. We've had these plans in place for nearly 7 years, since we saw the last eclipse. It was incredible. No words. I pray we can see it again. It's especially tricky because it's theatre week for Annie--eek!
*March 27th marked the 23rd year since my mother's death, and I realized that it also marked that I've now been without my mother for half my life. I was 23 when she died, and I'm 46 now. She was a lovely, lovely human, and I am thankful I had 23 years with her.
*The peonies are coming up, the crabapple tree is in bloom, the tulips have popped, the bleeding hearts are rising, the lilac is purpling, and I pruned the roses last week.
Life is full and fascinating and I'm thankful for it all.
