Dancing? At my age?

Another week has passed in a flash.

Wife and I rose early last Saturday morning, went to spin class at the Y, made a quick trip to the Farmers' Market (local strawberries were in! YEA!), came home and showered and were off to Memphis for Younger Son's rugby tournament.

The game started at 4:30 so we had time to stop in Jackson for a quick lunch. The drive over was actually somewhat relaxing because in the car we can only obsess about all the things we have to do, not actually do them, which makes sense in some warped kind of way. Just humor me.

The game had a sad outcome because even though our team scored more "tries" (like a touchdown in football) than the other one, they beat us on penalty kicks. Younger Son was quite disappointed.

We consoled him for a while, assured him he had done well and we were proud of him, then were off to head toward Auburn for Daughter's graduation.

We spent the night in Tupelo, MS Saturday night, then rolled into Auburn about 1 p.m. Sunday. We picked up Daughter and took her to lunch, then stood in line about two hours -- that's right, two hours -- to take her picture in front of the stately concrete and brick Auburn University sign in front of the campus. And yes it was worth it.

We had a celebration dinner with the family that night, excluding Younger Son who was unable to make it down, and Wife and I left Daughter and Older Son with some of their friends for late night celebrating. We made it back to the hotel about 9, took a nice leisurely walk around the grounds, then turned in fairly early.

I don't know how to describe Monday's commencement ceremonies other than to use one word: miserable. Outside, pushing 90 degrees, hardly a cloud in the sky, 3500-plus graduates. Did I mention it was miserable?

Bright spots were (1) seeing Daughter proudly march across the stage, at which point Wife and I gave each other a handshake and almost simultaneously said, "Two down, one to go," and (2) hearing Robert Gibbs, former White House Press Secretary, give the brief (nine minutes) commencement address. He was a good speaker.

The event began at 9:30. Daughter "walked" at 11:15. She had already sent us a text saying that she would be leaving immediately thereafter, as did roughly 95 percent of the graduates. We heard they finished up around 1 p.m. What word can I use other than MISERABLE?!

But Daughter is now a college graduate and we are immensely proud. Wife and Older Son hit the road shortly before 1 p.m. Daughter and I went to lunch, then went to work packing her up. We loaded up Older Son's pickup truck and the back of my Honda Pilot. I left about 5 p.m. and headed home and Daughter followed a couple of days later. She and her earthly belongings are now back here at the home she left just four years ago. She will now seek a teaching job and see what lies ahead.

Tomorrow morning we'll attend FDIL's hooding ceremony at Belmont University in Nashville, where she will receive her Master's Degree, and we might or might not attend the full blown graduation in the afternoon. Mercifully, it's all inside. It's cooler here than it was earlier in the week, but I appreciate that we won't have fight any kind of weather.

We are now turning our attention toward Younger Son and the graduation party we will have for him next Friday night, then his graduation on the 29th. And then of course there's the little matter of a wedding coming up in five weeks.

Not that this matters in any way, but I am approximately 14 pounds away from the weight I would like to be for the wedding (that would be 14 pounds over, by the way, just in case you were wondering). Unless I decide to shed a body part, I won't make it, but if I can drop a little more over the next few weeks I'll be happy. For about 15 years now I have had this matter of about 40 - 50 pounds that always want to come back after I get rid of them. Here's hoping their exit this time will be permanent.

That is not to say that these recent activities are about me. I just want to be healthy for them.

And in the mist of all of this, Wife has signed us up for dancing lessons. She is scared to death we will make fools of ourselves when we have to dance at the wedding.

Our first one is next Thursday night. When she called to tell me about it, Wife said, "the first lesson will be all about teaching you to lead and me to follow."

OK, folks. She walked right into that one.

What self-respecting husband would not have automatically made some sarcastic comment about having been married X amount of years (in my case, almost 27) and expecting a dance instructor to accomplish that?

Above all, we keep our senses of humor.

The pace is picking up

We knew it would happen. We knew it back in October when Older Son and FDIL got engaged.

We knew life would get CRAZY come spring. We were right.

The invitations have been mailed. The wedding will happen June 18.

In the meantime, there are parties. The happy couple are receiving some lovely gifts. Wife is planning the rehearsal dinner and little gift bags for out-of-town guests.

We went to Little Rock last weekend -- Older Son, FDIL, FDIL's parents, Wife and me. Our old friends there, most of whom have known Older Son his entire life and many of whom were there the night he was born, threw a dinner party in his and FDIL's honor on Saturday night.

We saw people we had not seen in ages and it kind of reminded me of a class reunion. I stood up the entire night and I never ate or drank anything until Wife urged me to get one of the strawberry desserts that one of the hostesses had made especially for me. My throat was sore by the end of the night from talking so much.

Sitting around with a small group toward the end, Older Son expressed his appreciation for the wonderful event and for the many years of friendship. He commented that, even though we have been gone nearly 14 years, the strong relationships endure. FDIL, with her gracious never-meet-a stranger personality, expressed her thanks as well.

Wife's and my hearts were full. We were proud of Older Son and FDIL. And we had a great time.
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Back at home, we are preparing for Younger Son's high school graduation which will take place May 29. We'll throw a graduation party, as we did with the older two, on May 20. We're going with a Mexican theme and Wife is planning enchiladas, black beans, Spanish rice, and chips and salsa.

But there's plenty going on before that. We'll be going to Memphis Saturday where Younger Son will be playing in the state rugby tournament. If they win in the semi-finals Saturday, they'll play in the finals Sunday, but we'll have to miss that one. Daughter graduates from Auburn Monday morning and her celebration dinner, which has been on the calendar for months, is Sunday night. Memphis is about six hours from Auburn. So Younger Son will have to understand (and he does).

After graduation Monday, I'll send Wife and Older Son home and Daughter and I will go pack her up to move home. We're going to hit it hard Monday afternoon and evening, and hope to head home Tuesday morning. (Wish me luck on that one).

A week from Saturday is FDIL's graduation from grad school so we'll be attending that event also. I'm proud of all my graduates.

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A couple nights ago I got a little snippy with Wife (OK, OK, it happens to the best of us and I have apologized). I told her there were just too many things competing for our time, including what I have mentioned here, as well as a family reunion I'm supposed to attend in Savannah, GA the weekend before the wedding. I was also bemoaning the rugby and graduation conflict.

Wife listened to me rant, then very rationally discussed with me how we would make it all work, helping me see the beautiful forest among all the massive trees. I told her she is very wise.

Last night Wife told me, without getting snippy (she is a better person than I), that she is not overwhelmed -- yet -- but she feels like she is rushing from one thing to the next and is having trouble slowing down and relaxing and enjoying the moment. I reminded her how she helped me the other night and told her again that I have never seen her so organized and efficient.

So what do we do? We are breathing in and breathing out. We are taking the occasional cleansing breath. And we are trying to savor each moment.

For you see, these are good times and sweet times, even though they are busy times. We are blessed to be here and we are making some great memories. I want to look back with a smile, not with regret.

And I am confident that I will.


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Here are some shots from last week's party in Little Rock, and from a shower Wife's friends here hosted for FDIL a few weeks ago. I am not even going to try to label each one. The first is Wife and me with Older Son and FDIL, and FDIL's parents at the Little Rock party; then the next is Wife with her buddies in Little Rock; then FDIL and her dad. The rest are from the aforementioned shower.



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Pretty sweet if you ask me . . .

Daughter drove in Friday night for Easter weekend.

We had not seen her in more than two months, probably the longest we have ever gone. So Wife and I were anxious for her to get home.

Since our last visit she had a nasty fall which resulted in a sprained ankle. That was a couple of weeks ago and she has reported slow progress. She still has the crutches but is slowly getting rid of them. We made a big to-do over it, of course, as she made it up the back stairs to get in the house.

Wife and I had gotten her a salad from one of her favorite local eateries and sat down on either side of her as she ate. We remarked that this would be her last "visit" home. In two weeks she will graduate and move back in on a semi-permanent basis.

Like her older brother, she is not happy about this. Oh, she has a sense of accomplishment at having completed requirements for a college degree, but -- also like her brother -- she has had an extremely enjoyable four years in college. She has made some friends that she will immensely miss. She is sad about that coming to an end.

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Saturday morning I got up and went out to a "berm" we have in the front yard, a little garden area that surrounds a couple of trees. It has been the bane of my existence since we moved into this house ten years ago. I am sure that it was once beautifully landscaped and was a credit to this neighborhood. Now I just fight with it every year to keep the weeds out. The weeds inevitably win.

Anyway, after pulling a few thousand weeds, I went around to the garage to get something and Daughter poked her head through the door and told me she was awake. She explained that since she's been doing her student teaching and getting up so early every week day, it's hard for her to sleep in on weekends.

Rather than going back out to the weed pulling, I went inside to see if Daughter needed anything. She had gone back upstairs and was lying in bed elevating her ankle, as she had been instructed to do. Ralph the Dog jumped up on the bed with her and I sat down in the bright pink chair by her bed.

We talked for about an hour. Unlike her brothers who generally will tell me things on a need-to-know basis, Daughter has always been willing to tell me about her life in great detail. She has loved her student teaching and has great stories about her second-grade students. I hung on every word.

As we began to hear Younger Son stirring across the hall, I got up and told Daughter I would be going back outside. I went to do something and then, as I passed by Younger Son's room, there was Daughter lying beside him in bed. He, of course, was trying to act annoyed but within only a few seconds I could hear him laughing. And naturally I had to go in and join them.

Daughter is four years older than Younger Son and they have always had a special relationship. It was particularly poignant for me to see her lying next to him in bed because, until she was about twelve and he was eight, they slept together. Both sets of grandparents were horrified by this situation at the time. Wife's parents gave Younger Son some type of video contraption one Christmas so he could project images on the ceiling as he went to sleep, with the hope that it would help him separate from his sister at bedtime.

I could have told them what the result of that would be. Typically, Daughter helped Younger Son put together "Bedtime Story Theater" and she incorporated it into their night-time routine.

Wife and I just never got too worked up about the sleeping together thing. It started because Younger Son was afraid of the dark and Daughter, ever his protector, was willing to help him through it.

Also, due to an unforeseen series of events, for a couple of years we found ourselves living in a duplex in which Younger Son really didn't have his own room, but just an over-sized closet off of Daughter's room just big enough for a single bed. As I recall, he never once slept in there.

By the time we moved into our current place, though, they separated. I don't detect any psychological damage to either of them from the years they slept together and Wife and I both still think it was a sweet period of time.

And it was pretty sweet when I saw them lying next to each other Saturday morning, laughing and talking, preserving a special bond.

Makes a dad feel very warm inside (even if he can't control weeds).