I think we managed to have the best Spring Break at CB ever. It was nice to have an extra mom around to shop and plan and cook. "Runaway" Rennie - her ski nickname, always had an older kid to look up to and by the end of the week she was describing riding black moguls like it was a walk in the park. She constantly competed with and bested her dad, which entertained me to no end. She's clearly the center of her mom's world, as she should be at this age. Rachel has an amazing sense of humor and her quick sarcasm garnered many laughs as she shot down Rennie's requests for more things on the shopping expedition. But she gave in when it was appropriate. A good balance.
Harper and Mia were delightful. They are both introverts and book readers and Harper is a music lover and loves horror, so we had lots to talk about. Harper looks like Snow White and sounds a little like Amanda Seyfried's portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout - and she was mortified when I told her that (She's so terrible! She did that on purpose!) that I backtracked and said you just have the best low inflections that ring that bell for me but I still jokingly called her Elizabeth later in the week and was secretly delighted that Mia and Harper were both familiar with the whole thing.
Harper was like a kid whisperer to Rennie - she is an Earth Science major and is thinking of working in National Parks but isn't sure. She knew the Arkansas State flower and the state mammal and the state bird (all of which I knew) but she also knew the state rock!! I didn't know there was a state rock, and it was a complicated name that I've forgotten it so I will have to look it up. They shared favorite animals (Harper's is the capybara, I can't remember Ren's) and Ren often chose Harper to snuggle with on the couch at night.
Mia is like a ray of sunshine. When I got frustrated there were no real checkers at Wal-Mart and I'd have to self check out a shit ton of food she said in her lilting soprano voice No Worries! We will help you. It will be fun. She and Harper ended up doing most of the work and it indeed turned a stressful situation into something fun. The morning after a total disaster for the girls that it took me a bit of time to piece together I said how was Gunnison? She cocked her head and smiled. "Usually those kind of plans don't end up the way you want them to."
The night before Rach and I stayed up late talking and the girls, who should have been exhausted, had found out about a party from some guy on Tinder and were getting dressed up to go. Rach ok'd me having a talk with them. Mia promised to stay mostly sober and Cecelia told me that Harper checked the bus schedule and what many parents might frown about we gave the green light bc they are all 19 (all of them Pisces!) and they need to learn to be responsible. I emphatically told Cecelia that the adults will be drinking and there will be no one to rescue you between midnight and 3am, bc we probably wouldn't hear the phone.
Harper read the bus schedule wrong and they ended up in the ED bc, not sure how, but it is a smart place to spend the night if you can't get a ride home. A nurse urged them to hitchhike but even though my shuttle driver yesterday told me it probably would have been safe they smartly declined in alarm. A guy ended up taking pity on them and driving them home safe, so when I woke at five to check that they were all in their beds I was happy to see them.
Noah is a joy. Not a punk ass, S says, like most boys these days. He's genuinely appreciative and kind and happy. He has not been snowboarding since he was seven and his dad took him. It's one of his fondest memories, so he's been excited about this trip for months - constantly sending Jack videos of skiing and snowboarding. When I took him to Panama City last year we were all genuinely alarmed - his self esteem nowhere near matched his looks. He's had a lot of tragedy in his life (haven't we all - but his is a lot). We spent the entire trip - C, Joelle, J and I trying to lift him up.
I was happy to see him more self confident this year, but still with all of the same wonderful qualities. He's a year ahead of Jack. He's planning to go to welding school, which I think is a great idea. I told him when I was going through my divorce and going to hiking meet ups I met a welder couple - they were DINK's looking to meet other hikers - and they were very happy and well off. Much more so than people who go to college and get into terrible debt and drop out bc our whole system sucks like hell. But I'm getting tangential.
When Jack and I were grocery shopping this afternoon he was stressing about the week and I said let's just enjoy today. I've got a lot too. I'm on call this week, and Med Exec Committee is meeting at Trio's tomorrow night. The fing American Board of Pathology was texting me on vacation reminding me of my damned quarterly questions due March 31st (I fing tried to do them on Friday and there were technical difficulties and no one answered the GD phone) which I texted back minus the cuss words but I'm sure it fell on empty ears. I'm finally switching CPA's from Christie's ex's company so I need to fill out the tax form and we meet with the new guy (Anna's boyfriend! She's the rock hound at Boulevard. I'm so excited to support someone she loves) on Thursday. And it's time to do some other major things in our business and there are due dates at the end of April but I'm gonna lean on my partners and roll with it.
Read Maus at the airport yesterday and started and am halfway through with Diana Beresford-Kroeger's To Speak for the Trees. Both really good. Nice to be reading. Happy Sunday, much love, Elizabeth.