August 2011: Understatements

Of course, the defining experience of August 2011 was my dad's death and funeral. I haven't blogged about it much but I have written about it many, many times in my personal journal. It was a sacred experience for me, being there with him when he passed. He was surrounded by his family and was at home—surrounded by art that he had made and hung on the walls—when he passed away, and I can think of no other greater wish I might have for my own death.

 

The funeral was also...well, there isn't a word to use here. "Good" hardly seems an apt description for a funeral, but it was just that: good, and peaceful, and funny, and musical. My Uncle Monte spoke, along with Becky and me, and I loved that even though none of us planned beforehand, we all had one thing in common: we shared quotes from books that reminded us of Dad. I loved that bit. My friend Chris came to the funeral as well (she was one of my dad's favorite people; he told me several times "I'm so glad you have Chris for your friend. I like her!") so I took my own advice and got a photo of her and me together, since our last one is now five years old

 

 

But death & funerals weren't the only thing that happened in August. It was actually a good, busy month for us, spent:

 

Visiting with family. My niece Jacqui had her baby's blessing early in the month, and it was nice to sit and talk to some of my more far-flung family members. (Kayci, that would be you!) Kendell and I went to a movie with our friend Steve, who we don't get to see often enough. Plus, at the funeral I got to see some of my cousins who I hadn't seen in a long time—two decades for one of them!

 

 
(There are only four cousins missing from this photo: Susan, Rochelle, Michele, and Jake. And yes: I do have a cousin named Jake and a son named Jake. It's just how it worked out.) (I wish I knew my cousins better than I do. It seems sad to me that most of us live fairly close to each other, but we don't have much of a relationship. I don't really know how to remedy this. The branch of the family I come from has always felt like the least-important one, I think, so I just assume they all have bigger & better things to be doing. Yep. that is pathetic of me!)

 

Swimming. I had a ten-punch pass for the community pool. My Bigs were not excited about hanging out at the pool all day. Is it mean that I sent them anyway? Kaleb loved it.

 

Camping. Our church had a 3-day-long youth conference in August. In the mountains. In tents, not cabins. To say that Jake and Haley were notexcited to go is to severely understate the point. Once they got there, though, they both had a great time. Haley slept in a tent all by her lonesome and loved the solitude. Jake got to be one of the group leaders. I'm so glad that I followed my gut and made them go despite their resistance. And I mean this in the least I-told-you-so way possible: I'm so happy they enjoyed themselves! (Haley took zero pictures at this event, even though she took her camera, so if you're reading this and you have pictures with my kids...I'd love to have a copy!)

 

Running. Haley and I ran a race together (her cross country team's 5k fund raiser), and she's run in a few xc races, too, as her shin splints have allowed her. My long runs have been getting, well, longer. I did two 18 milers in August. Plus, I ran a half marathon race. More on running in other blog posts!

 

Getting ready. For back to school, of course. At first, I really love this process. Love going through the lists and stockpiling all those school supplies. Love that the shelves are stocked with lots of cute notebooks. Love finding cute new clothes. By the end of it, though, I'm tired of the fact that every time I go to Target I seem to spend another fifty bucks. Jake still needs new shoes and Haley could use another pair of jeans...but this mother wore out her credit card so those will have to wait for a bit!

 

Teaching. My Write Now! class ran during August. In fact, it started the week dad died. To say I was stressed about the class during that time is another understatement. I couldn't do all I wanted and had planned to do, and I felt like I was letting my students down. Still, once the first week or so had passed, I pulled it back together. I think the class went well! (Textuality starts again in October.)

 

 Responding. Haley was asked to a Homecoming dance by one of her friends from the youth conference. Apparently all those two ate was carrots, so he asked her with a couple of bags of baby carrots and a funny note. She responded with this carrot cake (made with the carrots he sent!)

 

that said "when life gives you carrots, make carrot cake." Next week we need to find a dress!

Tiling.Our bathroom, that is. We finally couldn't stand the grody linoleum in our bathroom anymore. We found a great tile guy (really...if you live by me and need a tile guy, I have a name for you!) who did a great job, but what really made me excited is just how gorgeous the tile is we got. I love it so much it depresses me because it makes me wish for an entire new house, one that looked as gorgeous as my new bathroom tile.

 

Storming. Of course, we didn't actually storm. But a lot of rain fell this month. I love August thunderstorms in Utah. They are big, windy, thundery things. One of them woke me up out of a dead sleep at 1:28 in the morning. Pouring rain and booming thunder that lasted for what seemed like forever.

 

Going back to school. Haley started 11th grade, Jake is in 8th; Nathan is in sixth grade (his last year of elementary!) and Kaleb started first grade. I can't really explain how strange it is that all of my kids are in school all day. I don't quite know how I feel about it yet, but I've been too busy to have a cry-fest of any sort.

 

Miscellaneous round-up: Nathan wore a hole right through his sheets, so he got a new pair. He also, finally, got his long-desired butterfly knife anda weekend away at his grandma Beth's house. Kaleb, with much trauma, lost his first top tooth. That thing was dangling by a thread, but an apparently extra-thick one. Blood and tears before it finally came lose! Jake also got something long-awaited, Diablo II. I am still not completely happy with this, but he did do what he was supposed to do to earn it. He was a pallbearer at Dad's funeral. He also got to go to a monster truck rally with his cousin Zach, which he is still telling me about. Haley was home much more in August than she was in July, which made me happy! She did a ton of driving, including her first tries at driving our minivan.

And that, my friend, wraps up our August. How was yours?