End of many things, start of many more

It's September, which is personally my favorite month...not just because it's my birthday month, but also because at some point in September (though clearly not this week!), the weather breaks and you start to get a taste of fall, and for the past 7 years, it has signaled being through the very difficult first few weeks of kindergarten, with fall break just around the corner.  It does mean the end of summer, though, and for the last 3 years, that's been a whole different ballgame as we've had college kids leaving us.  

 Sending another kid back to college is so emotional. It’s like you’re just chugging along enjoying having them home but not really soaking it in or able to process they are leaving enough for it not to hit like a ton of bricks when they actually get in the car and drive away (or you drive away, whatever the case may be).  And then you just stand there feeling blindsided and knowing you passed through the end of an era of some sorts.  Which makes you then think of the end of a bigger era, like their schooling, and then the end of even bigger era, like motherhood. It’s too much! 

I wrote the above paragraph after Joshua left this year and I was crying in my closet and pondering it all.  Since he has his house, he was able to just pack up and leave on his own.  He had a wedding to go to with teammates and started his school year with lots of fun.  The next day we took Gray to school, which required a bit more work.  In true Gray fashion, though he had taken off Saturday from work to get packed, he didn't lift a finger in that direction till an hour and a half before it was time to go Sunday morning.  We loaded up his car and ours and made the 3 1/2 hr drive to Mars Hill.  He went expecting to have the roommate listed on his student account and I went hoping to meet this roommate, but alas, he didn't show by the time Gray was ready for us to leave, which was about the time it took to unload and rearrange his furniture a few times.  Sensing he was done with us, I asked if he was ready for us to go, he answered affirmatively, I choked back sudden tears, hugged him, and we were back on the road.  It turned out that his roommate didn't show at all and for a day, Gray was going to have his own room, which he was happy about.  But then a teammate he didn't know well ended up wanting to switch to be Gray's roommate so now he has one and he's happy about that too.  We've talked with both boys and they seem to be off to a good start so far.  Gray's assistant coach is head coach this year, so they've had some big team changes.  Joshua is happy to be back with his same 'ol buddies, though he loves being home too.

Here's a little of how our summer ended...

We had an ice cream party with my Bible Study ladies and their families.  Our group changes so much every year now, as kids grow up and move away and now we have one getting married and one going in the army, in addition to new college students.

While I went back to work, Allie finished her summer doing art camp in the same building my school is in, tennis camp with her same group at Fairview, a week in Rock Hill with Mimi and GrandGene, and a week of back and forth between home and Nanny and Pa's.  She did a lot of reading as always, though this summer Joshua picked up reading again, which made me so happy.  And she had a art group with some friends and did crafting at home. 

Father's Day gift to Barnette- Bulls game with the boys

My view on my one day helping with framing

The boys' summer ended with a bang...of hammers and nail guns.  FINALLY, the county approved our permit to start building the house.  With only three weeks to do months of work, they were on it from sun up till evening on the hottest weeks of the year.  It was so much work, they made a lot of mistakes, they sometimes didn't like working together at all, but they learned a lot and sure made many memories.  In the end, we had to hire framers to do the roof and finish a few things up, which they did in no time.  Amazingly, the heat broke the day after the guys finished working, so much so that kids at work were asking if it was still summer when we went out to recess and saying it was chilly.  It was an end to summer that these guys won't soon forget.  They did have a little fun along the way, going to movies with friends and cousins (the cutest was Joshua and Maddox going to The Odyssey, just the two of them one afternoon), had some nights hanging with the Moore boys, played lacrosse with teammates and friends for a summer play league, and hung out with high school friends (Gray mostly playing poker, Joshua mostly hanging out with Alden playing video games and doing a multi-sport series of competitions between the two of them)

On Joshua's last night, I made a special dinner that ended up getting eaten very late due the guys finishing up the last of their framing tasks, and we played a quick game of cards.  On Gray's last night it ended up just the two of us for dinner, and since I hadn't ridden in his new car all summer, I asked him to drive us to dinner.  He chose the Wooden Nickel and we had a nice dinner and nice chat, then played Chameleon with Matt and the girls later that night.

Joshua at the wedding.  He and I went shopping earlier in the summer to get a suit, as he was busting out of his prom suit from junior year.  He surprised me by picking out a pink tie to go with it, and didn't surprise me by buying new tennis shoes to complete the look.  

Julia ended the summer by landing a job at a hair salon via the recommendation of her cousin Audrey who used to work there and put in a good word for her.  She trained there while also finishing up work at the Sportsplex and trying to get in time with friends too.  She was highly disappointed at losing her summer tan to all of these working hours.  She also spend the last few weeks getting up quite early to run for cross country practice, which was tough to get back into but she has enjoyed seeing progress.  Managing morning cross country practice and getting to school on time has been a bit of a hurdle, but she had a great first day of school and continues to be optimistic about managing her classes and doing well in school this semester.  She loves knowing lots of kids at school and getting her social fix.

Allie started middle school and quickly made new friends.  She adjusted to life as a bus rider and continues to make our mornings a breeze by getting herself up a ready like a champ.  She decided not to try out for a fall sport, but is going to do a tennis play league to get some real match practice.

Somewhere in the chaos of starting school, which was so hard and overwhelming the first week, Matt working every waking hour of every day at the hospital or framing the house, and getting everyone ready to go back to school, Matt and I had our 23rd anniversary.  It fell on a Sunday and we went to church, then out to lunch in Durham and to Walmart.  :)  We also got to celebrate with Matt's side of the family last weekend, as Matt's sister and her husband and his parents have anniversaries in August too.  Barnette and Cindy were kind to take us all out to a nice dinner.

Next up- more beginnings, as we host a new community group this year and I start as a youth leader at church for one of our groups of girls.  We'll get back in those old rhythms of regular church activities, watch each of our kids do their sport a little bit, and start to get that fall feeling of holidays ahead.  We'll continue to miss those boys but also feel pretty normal in this life of our family being disjointed for part of every year.  And we'll keep plugging away at the new house and imagining our next "normal", coming our way next year.