It doesn’t take much these days. A sad country song on the radio pushed me over the edge taking Pace TO school and then again FROM school today. It seems like tears are just waiting to brim over lately. Don’t worry; it’s a healthy sadness. It’s just that moving from here:
To here:
Is a loooooong way:
And I’m sad about it.
I cried when I went to my yearly OB/GYN appointment and the sweet nurse who has talked me through two pregnancies hugged me goodbye. I cried when I bought some heavy cream and noticed that, by the time it expired, I wouldn’t live in our home anymore. I cried when Noah left these flowers for Pace on our back door-step.
I cried as I walked home from book club in the darkness and knew it was the next-to-the-last time. I cried at the realization that the girls don’t understand the magnitude of what’s happening.
Fact is, I’m just not the leaving kind. We’ve talked about my love for the familiar before. I don’t even like to move my furniture around, much less leave my whole house. Jeremiah is about to burst at the seams. He’s ready to move on…to move out. I just want to hem myself up and not go anywhere. I love our little life.
I guess if you refuse to move, you get run over. So, this weekend our goal is to pack up and move out the basement.
Aghhhhh!
I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long, but I think that the 10,000 pictures in this post will get you caught up (if you make it through them all :)). I feel like people have been loving me way too much lately. After uploading these pictures from the past week and seeing everything all together, I’m feeling pretty spoiled rotten.
Let’s start back at Mother’s Day.
When Ashley dropped off these little dreams (Can you see the one I couldn’t even leave alone long enough to snap a picture?):
And these:
And then took our children so that Jeremiah and I could go here:
The Alabama Theatre to hear NORAH JONES!!!! There was a girl who sang at dinner every night of our honeymoon who sounded almost exactly like Norah. It was such a fun surprise and a romantic night.
My birthday always falls right around Mother’s Day, and I received a BIG gift from Mrs. Linda just a couple of days later: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It let me take some pictures like this:
and this:
Then, just before I headed out of town, sweet Lauren invited the girls and me over to have lunch in her backyard to celebrate my upcoming birthday
This picture of their backyard makes me want to cry. So many, many memories.
Then, Jeremiah flew off to Las Vegas for a spine conference, and I loaded up the girls and headed to Auburn for Caroline’s graduation:
The ceremony was at 10 on Friday morning, so we spent the night on Thursday night in Kendall’s college apartment…without Kendall there:
There was something very funny to me about tucking the girls in bed for the night on a futon :)…in a college room…with twinkling lights. I felt like I was in some twilight zone. I couldn’t decide if I was back at college–with kids. Or if I was getting a glimpse of 18 years down the line.
(Thank you Sarah for letting us take over your room! I’m not sure if you even knew we did :))
Then the next morning, we watched Caroline Clark Blair officially graduate as an Industrial Engineer!
And the girls were surprisingly well behaved…
…despite this mischievous look that would make you think otherwise.
And when you’re an Auburn Tiger, did you know you can even tailgate for graduation?!
We got a few curious looks, but I’m convinced they were just jealous that we weren’t having to wait in any long lines.
My Dad’s mom, Mimi:
My Mom’s mom, Grandma
And my Mom’s Dad, Grandpa:
Were all there, and made the day extra special.
We managed to celebrate my birthday as well:
And this was the first birthday I’ve had that I did not like the numbers glaring at me from the top of my cake:
It looks like I was trying to suck them right off, instead of blow them out 🙂
And you’d think that would be quite enough for any one birthday girl, wouldn’t you. But no. After graduation, I dropped the little chicken wings off with Popon and Moogie and headed down to the beach for the remainder of the weekend with
Kendall (my baby sister)
Alex (Jeremiah’s baby sister)
Berkley (ohhh Berk, what intro can I give? :))
and Ashley (Jeremiah’s other sister)
And despite the fact that my birthday cake didn’t survive the car ride down:
I’m pretty sure I was THE HAPPIEST birthday girl around.
I am a thankful Mom this Mother’s Day. Thankful for this rare morning, when I woke up before my husband and there was enough daylight filtering through our windows that I could discern the features of his strong face just in front of mine. Thankful that God made that face just. for. me.
Thankful for the little heart who thanks God each night for the specific beauties she finds in His creation.
Thankful that she picked and arranged these flowers, all by herself, just for me.
Thankful for the squinty wet face who interrupted my shower to give me kiss.
Thankful for the soggy cheerios, cold omelet, and half-eaten banana that I scraped into the trash after some little mouths were “All done, Mommy.”
Thankful for the strand of pearls hanging around my neck that once belonged to my Mom. Thankful that I’ll sit in the pew this morning and feel her just a few inches above my heart.
Thankful for the husband who has planned a romantic date for us tonight, that I know is the well-spring of this thankful Mother’s heart this morning.
I pray you’re feeling thankful this Mother’s Day too.