Last week was full of end-of-school activities. Alex got promoted from 6th grade to 7th grade, I proctored some exams, and Alex finished his last day of elementary school. I can’t really think about that last thing for very long without getting teary-eyed, and with me it’s not as much about the Sunrise, Sunset-ness of it all as it is about looking back at the phenomenal teachers he has had every single year. He was at the same school from K4 through 6th grade, and it was the sweetest experience every single year – not because it was always super-easy/breezy, but because his teachers knew him and loved him. They faithfully taught him through his successes and through his failures, and I have to stop talking about it now or I’ll just get up in the bed and cry and watch the Southern Charm marathon that’s currently on Bravo. But suffice it to say that we are so, so thankful.
Here he is the summer after kindergarten…
…and here is before 6th grade promotion.
Have mercy the years in between have been fun.
SO.
Because we love us some Mississippi State baseball, we moved straight from 6th grade promotion to our favorite event of the whole year – the SEC Baseball Tournament. My friend Daph and her older son, Davis, came into town to watch some baseball with us, and we had a blast even though the Bulldogs didn’t win the tournament this year (yay for the Aggies, though). The only hitch in our baseball fun was that I broke my foot the night of State’s first game (I know. It’s ridiculous. Same foot as the leg injury from a year and a half ago.), but I have to say that if you hurt your foot, the SEC tournament is a fine place to be (I tripped walking into the tournament Wednesday night and rolled my foot in my unsuccessful attempt to keep my balance). A friend of mine who works for the SEC got a trainer (hey, Jake!) (thanks, Jake!) to look at my foot, and that is how I ended up getting x-rays on the lower level of the Hoover Met and finding out that I fractured the bone beneath my pinky toe.
At some point in my life I’m going to be graceful. It hasn’t happened yet, but I have high hopes that one day it will.
ANYWAY, Jake put me in a boot, I stayed to watch the Dogs beat Bama, and all things considered it was sort of a non-event, the broken foot. I went to the doctor the next day, and he told me that while this particular injury can take a little while to heal, it’s typically not very painful after a few days. Hooray for that. We went back to the tournament later that afternoon and had an absolute blast despite the fact that the Bulldogs lost; it was one of my favorite nights in a long time, in fact. SO MUCH LAUGHING. It was after midnight by the time the game was over, and Alex was as delirious (and hilarious) as I’ve ever seen him. It was all so ordinary and just THE BEST. Yay, summertime.
THEN.
Sister and Barry came to town on Friday, and we had the most relaxing weekend. We hung out at the house, went out for a couple of meals, hunted for shoes (that was just Sister and me, and really, I was just moral support since my need for cute summer shoes has really taken a nosedive in the last week), and enjoyed not having to be anywhere in particular. Last night Sister hung new curtains in Alex’s room while I supervised / tried to pretend like I could be any help whatsoever, and at some point I need to post before and after pictures because GOOD GRIEF at the difference. The wall behind Alex’s bed only has one window, and it’s on the left side of the wall, so I’d had the idea to fake a second window by hanging curtains across the whole wall behind his bed. IT WORKED. Sister hung the curtains last night, and my only regret is that I didn’t have the idea sooner. I love the way it turned out.
Today Sister and Barry drove home to Nashville, and I plopped myself on the couch and spent most of the day reading. It was glorious. Then I cooked supper, plopped myself on the couch again to write this blog post, and a little while ago Hazel came in here to keep me company.
Summer vacation, as always, seems to have arrived right on time.
And today in particular, we remember the men and women who have bravely served and sacrificed their lives for our freedom. We pray for their families.
We are grateful.
Happy Summer, y’all.
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