BE RIGHT BACK...

We are "going on holiday" and won't be back until the middle of July. The kids don't know where we're going, but we're headed on a Norwegian cruise up the North Cape to see "stunning" (according to the brochures) port cities, fjords galore, and at least one glacier. Ever since Kyle and I went to Alaska two summers ago, I've wanted the kids to have a similar experience. The price was right on this one (really cheap) and we wanted to do something special this summer, so off we go...

The one drawback is a lack of internet access while we're gone, so there won't be any blogging until we get back. Rest assured we haven't fallen off the edge of the world, just purposely left easy communication access for a couple of weeks!

So, as they say everywhere here in England, "Cheers" (which means both goodbye/see you later and thank you, depending on how you use it)!

Not a Baby Anymore...

Well, Jess graduated from middle school yesterday. Sigh.

It is a little surreal, to say the least, to have your oldest child starting high school when you couldn't possibly HAVE a child that old, but here we are. So with my feet still firmly planted in ultimate-denial soil, yesterday the whole family attended the school's very nice continuation ceremony. The eighth graders all looked extremely grown up in their formal attire, the program moved along nicely, and the speeches were actually very interesting. Except for Eryn, who slept through the whole thing, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the surprisingly-entertaining-and-less-painful-than-expected ceremony. Afterward we went to the reception in "the Red Room" (all of the rooms in the mansion are named by color) for lemonade, fruit, and maternal-requisite pictures. Then the families were cordially invited to leave so that the graduates could celebrate for several hours with pizza, non-dancing, and much crying over all of the people who are moving this summer.

Two things were significant to Jess about the day: 1) she didn't feel any differently after graduating than before, and 2) she was surprised at how close she's become to her classmates in only six months. I assured her that graduating never makes you feel any different but that the journey was the significant event and the graduation just marks a passing into another stage and that you always feel things deeply when you're 14 going on 15 but that we could certainly send her to a less-nice school if she'd prefer. And, yes, I did get a very nice eye roll out of both comments--tee hee.

Seriously, though, I'm still in awe of the experiences our children are having. The school has been remarkable for all of them in so many ways, and I'm incredibly grateful that they've been given this opportunity. What an interesting experience!

The End of the Year

You know when you're a parent that the end of the year actually happens twice--once at the end of December and once at the end of the school year.

As we are in the home stretch, I am yet again amazed that it is possible to have multiple activities scheduled every day of the week and still survive (barely). Between scouts, church, and school, we literally have at least one scheduled activity every day for the next two weeks, and most days have multiple events. Today was field day with Laurel and Eryn, complete with a nice new sunburn for me (apparently sunscreen only works when you apply it to ALL of the exposed skin--forgetting your neck when wearing a ponytail doesn't end well). The next two weeks will bring a 25-mile scout bicycle ride, middle school sports day, award ceremonies, music concerts, class parties, end of school picnics, Father's Day, and Jessie's continuation. (Since I'm still in complete denial about her being in high school in August, I've decided that it's ok for her to go, since none of it is real anyway...) Whew!

So in a couple of weeks we'll officially have a second, fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth grader--elementary, middle, and high school all at the same time. Hmmm, I'm going to choose to be in denial about that, too...

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide...

So the big news is, drum roll please, I'm turning 40. Yep, that's right, FOUR ZERO. I can't say I'm particularly thrilled at the prospect, but it is what it is.

I know, I know, a lot of you have already hit this milestone and gracefully moved on; I just need to figure out the "graceful" part. (Half done, the little voice inside my head keeps moaning...HAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLFF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!) I just have such a longing to be more and do more, enjoy more, love more, and LIVE MORE; and being "half done" makes you stop for a minute and take a good long hard look at yourself, where you're headed, and what you did with the first half. I guess I just need to whisper back to the little voice "HALF LEEEEEEEEEEEEFFFFFFFFT" and move forward.

As I mourn, er celebrate, part of my favorite poem, the oft' quoted and perpetually misunderstood "The Road Not Taken" (by Robert Frost) keeps running through my mind. Frost spends the first couple of stanzas talking about choosing which road to take, the part everyone usually focuses on, and then he says this:

Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them [the two roads] really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The poem is about making choices. The traveler chooses between two equally attractive options, moving forward with one and understanding that he will, subsequently, never explore the other. But the final message is what I find so interesting. The traveler realizes as he is making the choice that even though he faces equal options, time and experience will eventually make whatever he chooses significant, and that in hindsight his chosen road will become the one "less traveled." It becomes significant because he chooses it, and, therefore, it DOES make all the difference. It becomes part of him, part of his experience, his "road less traveled."

So, as I'm half baked (pun intended), I'm looking back on my road--all of the paths I could have taken and didn't, some of the paths I took but wish I hadn't, and all of the roads I'm glad I've chosen. I'm so grateful for the wonderful companions I've been blessed to travel with and all of the great experiences the road has surprised me with. It sure has been an interesting walk through the forest so far; if I make it the next 40 years of this journey, it will be even more interesting to compare my road at that point to the one I'm on today. Which paths will be my "roads less traveled?" Which of the choices I make today will become significant to my journey over the next half of my life?

If anyone wants to give me a birthday present, a crystal ball would be very much appreciated (only one that really works, though, please)...