Cathy: Weekend Update–the usual frustrations and a dose of sunshine

So many things interfered with so many plans I had this weekend. I won’t bore you with too many details, but while Baby C took a nap, and Honey took care of things he needed to at home (some side job work, some gutter cleaning), I grabbed one highly reluctant son and one enthusiastic one to head up to the other end of the town to the historic district and York River Beach on Saturday. The sun was out for the first time in weeks. We dipped our toes in the water. We walked on the storm barrier rocks. We sat and lay on the sand, dug holes and let the sun warm us like we hadn’t since last August. Aaaaah….

The teen was acting a bit anti-social (I had interrupted his very important tv viewing agenda, and his afternoon shower before another sleepover at the fellowship) but I think he enjoyed himself in his own reluctant way. S thoroughly enjoyed kicking jellyfish away, digging a hole to semi-bury himself, and climbing and finding rocks and shells. I soaked up some rays, watched my guys be themselves, stood up straight without the baby on my hip and enjoyed the view. The sun, breeze and water are the best ingredients to rejuvenate my spirit after so much time spent indoors. People were all over the pier, walking dogs, cycling, sailing in the distance. It was a beautiful day.

Sometimes, no matter how much laundry, lawn mowing, reorganizing, cleaning, etc., needs to be done, you just have to take advantage of the sun while it shines. And it helped me love the boys just a little more again – even if from 50 feet away. Maybe it was the distance that made the love happen. If K were grumbling next to me the whole time, I’m sure I would have grumbled back.

Later, we dropped him off and did the weekend home repairer’s trip to Lowe’s bathroom and plant departments. We bought a vertical yew for my piney mulch shady corner, and I had the sudden inspiration for a Jane magnolia tree I saw. I don’t wear much jewelry myself, so my indulgences in that regard go to adorning my yard.

On Sunday, we had hoped to take care of some things we didn’t on Saturday, but Baby C decided that steamrolling her parents all night was a better idea than sleep, so we woke up late. Since I had to pick up K, I had to go to service, therefore nothing got done. We were supposed to meet some other asperger’s families at Busch Gardens for the afternoon. Well, we made it to the park an hour late and without the cellphone (mine) with the phone number of the organizer in it, so we just did our own thing, enjoyed the afternoon and hoped we’d meet with them. We never did. Baby C had more fun on this one picnic table [below] than the rest of us did on the rides. She played “up and down,” danced, and smiled at everyone in the vicinity. She can be quite the charmer these days. Alas, this weekend, I kept walking out the door with no good camera, so these are all cell phone shots. But they still look fine to me.

So, no writing in the manuscript, even though I longhand wrote two big ideas for it in the past week. I’ll say that counts, though I still need to plug them into the manuscript and flesh them out a bit. No yard work on my part, except for buying trees. The summer clothes exchange is in the upstairs hall, and bathroom fixtures are all over the bathroom. Baby C’s home done one year portraits are put off for another week until we can set up the studio in the living room. But I had plenty of fun in the sun with my family. And that’s more important than griping about what didn’t happen from The List.