Curly's college decision: getting there is half the fun

My frozen GF pizza that
I made before we left
 - thinking I could eat it
between flights. Um,
 no. I had to eat it
on the flight, but
 I first apologized to
the man next to me.
 My attempt to keep it
warm meant layers
of newspaper and tin foil. It
 was bigger than a football. 

Making connections in South Carolina:  Curly and I flew to Aiken, SC March 19th to visit Univ South Carolina Aiken (USCA). Our flight to Charlotte left an hour late. Our connection to Columbia was gonna depart 50 min after we landed. 

USCA booked Curly's flight, so we weren't sitting together. Curly:  last row. Me:  middle of plane. After Coach's recent flying ordeal, I asked the flight attendant if they'd make an announcement, requesting people without a connection remain seated while the rest deplaned. He said sure, but then forgot. 

We waited for a gate in Charlotte. I was panicked. I texted Curly:  I'm gonna make my own announcement. Translation:  brace for the embarrassment.  

I'm thoughtful that way. 

I hollered my request. Based on the people dawdling after deplaning, not many felt compelled to help those of us in a time crunch.

Wasn't really warm,
 but yummy.

My text to Curly:  I'M GONNA RUN TO GATE E21. FIND YOUR WAY THERE. HURRY!

Thanks to signage, I knew the walk from B4 to E21 was 18 min. I stuck my roller bag in front of me and ran. I imagine security personnel replaying the  footage of me running through the airport. 

I arrived ay my gate doubled over, gasping. "My daughter's coming. She's a b-ball player. She's fast. Please wait for her." 

The airline staff person:  Well, if she's so fast - how did you beat her? 

Me:  We weren't sitting together. 

I called Curly. 

Curly, panting:  Almost there. 

She rounded the corner at top speed, carrying her roller bag in front of her (she packed light, but still). 

I needed a restroom. The woman scanning our boarding passes gave me 4 min to run to the bathroom, because the airplane's was out of service. Curly was irritated that I'd not gone while I waited for her. 

Hey, I'm a mom - I risked my personal needs to hold the flight.  

The USCA coach picked us up at the airport, which was nice. I dry coughed the short flight and the hour drive to the hotel. I rarely need an inhaler, and was relieved to find one in my roller bag when we got to our room. Phew. 

Curly's fav building with a
courtyard in the middle of it,
and tables for studying. 

Smooth sailing:  The rest of the visit went great. We liked campus. The head of the nursing school toured us through the dept. Very impressive. B-ball payers live in the best apartment-style dorm. The young female coach, who started there in April '25 and has coached elsewhere, suggested that Curly eat lunch with the team, while I eat with the coaching staff. 

Me:  YES!

It was ideal for Curly to hang with the team. She asked the girls about the players who'd jumped in the portal (transferred) - a few had bad attitudes, and one was hoping to go D1. That clarity helped. 

Bonus:  We learned that a girl from the Chicago 'burbs has committed to USCA for volleyball. She and Curly have a mutual friend, Kat, from Curly's high school volleyball team. Kat is excited for them to meet, believing they'll hit it off. Curly likes the idea of having a college friend near home, which'll be rare if her school is so far. Plus, it'll be fun to meet someone in advance who plays a different sport. 

The coach sat us down in a conference room, showed us a power point, and said:  I want you on our team, Curly. I think you'd be a great fit. I'm offering you a full ride. 

I maintained my composure, but back in our room, where the coach dropped us before dinner - I was squeezing my kid FULL RIDE? WOW! 

Where all the fun happens.

Curly:  I think I still pay room and board. 

Me:  Huh? Ya think?

When we got picked up for dinner, Curly texted me from the front seat:  Ask her.

Me:  So, can you clarify, does the offer include room and board? What will we be responsible for?

USCA coach:  Everything's included. You pay for your books. 

Curly and I were both like, Wow, that's great. We enjoyed dinner with the coaches. One asked about life in a big family. I'd listened to defense and offense talk all day, now we were speaking my language. 

I described Lad's exotic red frog that hopped out from under the fridge a few years ago - the one I mistook as a dropped raspberry, till it hopped. Curly shared a few tales about playing sports with older brothers who played legit defense on her - no advantages for the cute little sister. Favorite sport movies was another fun discussion. 

USCA coach:  The other players really like you. They're hoping you accept the offer. Think about it and let me know after spring break, please.

She requested that Curly not share the offer on social media until she accepted it. When athletes post their offers, other coaches catch wind and reach out. It's an interesting system. Curly didn't post it, and I respect the coach's angle and how she handled it.  

Ah, sweet home, Chicago. 

St. Leo, the school near Tampa that gave Curly an offer in January, was no longer in the running. Curly notified that coach. I later learned that the St. Leo player that Curly connected with the most had decided to transfer. She and Curly had followed one another, so Curly knew. 

* can we pause for a moment and recognize that in a time that preceded this one, FOLLOWING SOMEONE meant we walked behind them.  

Being close to home was the only box USCA didn't check. But I pointed out that her 4 older working sibs can fly down for a game. The town of Aiken is really cute. It's known for horse racing. Derby horses winter there, so it'll be a great place to visit. And, WARM WEATHER. Plus, the distance will suck more for us than for her. She won't be coming home that often. We need to plan flights in advance (not my strong suit), hoping she can fly direct from O'Hare to Augusta, GA and avoid the connection nightmare. 

BOTTOM LINE:  On Good Friday she called USCA coach and accepted the offer. This has been a long, exhausting process (lots I never blogged about). I think she's gonna be happy there. I'm off on Fridays, so I'll be ready to escape the Midwest weather to fly down and watch a game. 

After we landed in Chicago, I saw a text from my brother, "Can I call you?" Uh oh. I knew that wasn't gonna be good news. More later . . . 

*****

When was the last time you ran thru an airport to catch a flight? Have you been here long enough to remember the tiny frog hopping out from under the fridge incident? Have you ever heard of Aiken? Been there? 

Not to worry - I was NOT eaten by manatees in Florida. Where did I leave off?

I've been busy:  hosted two Easter parties and got college kids back where they belong and then drove to the city last night to listen to Tank play in a session . . . so I could hand off the forgotten items Reg left behind. Tank's roomie/courier is flying home to Omaha this weekend. 

I had this post ready to post while I was in Florida and I got distracted by the manatees and forgot. 

OMG - I have so much to share, but first I'm worried you've all been on the edge of your seat wondering where I took the girls after I dropped Reg at his carpool meeting spot minutes after we raced home from Grand Rapids.

last minute drive into the city. 40 min. Great skyline.
 Plus this helped with my Tank with drawl-
 missing him after spending
spring break with him in Florida.

Next stop:  free shopping with teens, shoe switcheroo, and Exhaustion

Sunday, March 15th:

1:30 pm - arrived at a resale for children's clothes. The resale organizers offer whatever is leftover from the sale to foster/adoptive parents FOR FREE. Sales happen twice a year. I've never been able to take the girls, because children aren't allowed - but this time, I realized that they are now old enough to join me. 

Rae is crazy picky. Kay is less so, but I cannot predict what she'll turn up her nose at - letting them pick stuff they like is so much easier than me hauling stuff home and then finding out they aren't interested. I donate their castoffs to Amvets, but it's one less step. There's also nowhere to try stuff on, so even this time, some stuff didn't fit/work out. 

We stood in line till the doors opened at 2:00 pm. 

The line is like a Who's Who in the foster/adoption world of the Chicago suburbs. I see a lot of familiar faces. 

There are also books, crafts, and games. They both really enjoyed 'shopping'. In typical Rae fashion, she commented twice at how much fun that was. Kay didn't mention it, but she enjoyed it. She was very excited once home that a bathing suit she liked fit perfectly. She's taking it to Florida. 

Re-entry (even after almost 3 years!) to my 'real' life after a weekend away can be hard. A 45 minute car ride on our way to the sale with me describing how Tank hid when summoned to dance at the party, and how Mini hit Tank with a pillow for snoring, etc. was just the thing. Plus, chuckling together at some of the available items at the sale in addition to searching for finds was a good way to connect.  

3:30 pm - We got home, I showered, and ate my lunch while the girls did a fashion show of their selections.

4:30 pm - Curly, Rae, Kay, and I drove to 5:30 mass at a different parish. On our way, Curly and I ran into a wake at a nearby funeral  home for her teammate's grandpa. He'd been a patient of Coach's off and on for decades. Coach was trying to get home from Delaware, but it was getting dicey. 

6:30 pm - Curly and I traded shoes in the pew after mass - a first. I didn't want to wear my suede shoes in the torrential downpour that I didn't realize was heading our way - thus Coach's delay in Charlotte.  I ran through the puddles to get the car and picked the girls up at the door.

6:50 pm - as we pulled into the driveway, Reg texted about the car accident he and Thomas were in. 

I watched the Oscar's kind of, but mostly edited an essay Curly wrote for a scholarship. I texted with Coach about his travels and had calls with Reg about where he was. 

I'm guessing it will surprise no one that I was exhausted by the time I crawled into my bed, which I did once I knew Reg was a few minutes away from campus. 

*****

Do you have a favorite clothing item that was free/handed down? Ever swap shoes, or go shoeless and tuck your prize shoes under a coat to keep them from the elements?

I'll take Facts about Marine Animals for $200, Alex, & a 'What would you serve?' desperate scramble for menu input

Here I sit typing . . . 

Can you see it?

on the balcony of my VRBO overlooking a little inlet chock full of manatees. When I read the unit's description about 'enjoy the manatees while sipping your morning coffee from one of the two balconies', I assumed that meant one visitor had once witnessed a single manatee. 

Well, pardon my pessimism and shut my mouth. 

The minute we arrived, I walked onto the balcony and saw what I thought was a floating log, or a large rock. A few minutes later, we realized it WAS a manatee - they can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes. What I first saw was a sleeping manatee. Friends, there are easily a dozen manatees wrestling together in the water behind our unit. We can't stop taking video snippets of their antics. It's wild. (below is a 45 second video of the manatees - highly recommend). 

What's more wild?

Coach thought manatees had legs. 

He told Curly:  they probably like it here, because it's so shallow they can walk around and eat the sea grass. 

Curly:  Uh, so they can't walk they have fins, father.

Have we stopped making fun of him for this? No, why do you ask?  

Rae had never heard of a manatee. Curly chuckled about that initially, but then we let it drop - because Kay and Rae's lack of experience going to aquariums, reading books with a parent, and traveling places tends to be off limits. 

He's batting 1,000:  

We played a game of Code Names on Saturday night, and when Tank's clue was 'birds for 2', there were two bird cards on the board. 'Penguins' and 'Hawk'. Coach overthought his team's answer, tried convincing Rae that a penguin wasn't a bird. 

Coach:  Wait, they swim, hmm, I don't think they're birds, are they?

Tell me which parent visited the zoo with our 6 older kids 7,000 times, without telling me. 

What would you serve? 

A few days before we left for Florida, I decided that we should host an early Easter dinner on Holy Saturday. Rae and Kay are becoming Catholic at the Easter Vigil mass Saturday at 8 pm. Coach's folks are staying at a hotel, so that they can attend. We've been married almost 30 years, so I know they'll bolt back home (an hour north) first thing Sunday. I need to feed them. Plus, they've been in South Carolina since mid December and we haven't seen them. Also invited:  other friends and family. Maybe 25-30ish people.

We return Friday. I tidied before we left, but believe-you-me, my work is cut out for me. I bought the three youngest girls new dresses before Florida. Check that off the list.

People will eat ham on Easter, so Not ham. Fancy is not the answer. I'm aiming for easy. Maybe shredded barbeque chicken in the crockpot - buns for those that want it. Open to ideas. Oh, I ordered a Costco cake before I left for Florida. I can whip up a 7 layer taco dip with my eyes closed, so appetizer = no brainer. 

****

Have you seen a manatee in the wild? Did you know that a manatee has no legs? Do you play Code Names?  Are you anxious to hear about how Tank told off a guy at the pool yesterday? (I so want to share, but keeping this short) Can you guess what happened? 

part deux: Grand Rapids or bust, and beyond

*If you missed the firsts installment of the crazy busy weekend, you can catch up here. 

Saturday, March 14th:

8:08 am - We drove to the station closest to us. Reg parked Tex. We triple checked that he left the fob in the car, sent Tank photos of where Tex was, and drove west. One of the girls suggested that I leave them there - at the closer station. I noted the panic in Reg's face in my rearview mirror. 

Me:  No, it's no problem. I don't want to mess you guys up. We'll go to the other station. 

The station was packed. Reg texted that they just managed to squeeze on. 

8:45  am- I whipped up more soda bread, wanting it fresh for my Grand Rapids friends.

9:00 am - I worked out. Loaded my Stanley thermos with dinner from the crockpot for the road trippers. Showered. Got dressed for the funeral. Tank texted that he hopped on an earlier train, so he'd be home before I left for the funeral.

10:50 am - Curly, Mini, and I attended the funeral mass at the church a stone's throw from our house. 

Tank took Rae to see my folks, filled the minivan with gas, and brought the big cooler in from the garage. 

12:00 pm- after the funeral, Mini asked me to drop her home. She refused to attend the celebration of life lunch, because of her 'puddle' status. I told her she'd feel better surrounded by people and friends who were also grieving. Nope. She insisted that if her friend who spoke about her dad and didn't shed a tear could hold it together, she could not show up in such a state. I dropped her home, and Curly and I drove around the corner to the luncheon. 

12:30 pm - Curly's friend picked up Rae and drove her 25 minutes away to Suzi's house. She claimed volunteer status, but I insisted on paying her. Suzi's older kids would drop Rae home after 3:30 pm. 

1:00 pm - Got home. Changed clothes, loaded the cars, loaded the cooler with 7 layer taco dip, breakfast, GF dinner for me, and soda bread. 

1:30 pm -  hit the road. I listened to the last few hours of my audiobook 'Culpability' on blue tooth. Mini asked for a recap of the first 3/4 of the book. I filled her in. She was invested. 

4:45 pm - Rae called. It was 3:45 at home. 

Rae:  I just got home. The garage door was up, but no one's home. Is it OK if I go to Chick-Fil-A with Suzi's girls? And then come back? I'll put the door down. 

Me:  Yeah, Reg's probably napping. 

5:20 pm - Reg called. 

Reg:  Do you know where the girls are? It took a little longer to get home, because the train was packed. But I called Tommy (a neighbor kid) and had him open the garage door*. But the girls aren't here and I just got home and the door is down. 

*little girls don't know the code, because I can go for my run and they can go outside and shoot hoops, walk, etc. That way they don't re-enter the house while I'm running. Do we hope to trust them one day - soon? Yep. It's not easy living with kids who:  earn trust, break trust, repeat. *sigh* 

Me:  grrrr - It's fine, Reg. Rae will be home any minute. She got home and her ride took her to Chick-Fil-A because you weren't there. I told her you were napping. 

From crockpot to Stanley
pot. Have food, will travel.

5:30 pm - We arrive at the hotel (time change) after an uneventful 3 hour drive. Changed into green party attire, and I fed my people dinner from my Stanley thermos. No one would be surviving on appetizers alone on my watch. 

I knew that Reg's friends were coming back to our house after the parade to hang out in the basement. I'd suggested 8 or 9:00 pm. Um, no. They showed up right after the parade and the 'it'll be about 8 kids' wasn't accurate, but Reg fed the girls dinner, loaded leftovers from the crockpot in the fridge, and came upstairs regularly to check on them. They were watching a movie in the family room. 

Is the fact that Reg forgot to serve the 7 layer taco dip an indication that he may have been a tad overserved? Um, yes. 

Coach called Kay to ask her how science fair went. She was the only one from her school that didn't make it to state. We were SHOCKED that she'd made it to regionals. I wish I had a recording of Mini asking her about her project over Christmas. "So, you're giving preschoolers fruit, telling them it's apple, and then waiting to see if they notice it's pear? Is that science? Or trickery?" 

Kay told Coach there were about 50 pairs of shoes in the front hall. Maybe an exaggeration? Coach was a little miffed, but I reminded him that Reg is a huge help and this was the one thing he wanted to do over break. AND - the girls had to attend a 10:00 am scrutiny mass on Sunday at a church 20 minutes away. He took them, filled in as a sponsor, since their sponsors were unavailable. They were dressed appropriately, and not late. We let the basement 'rager' slide.

This bottle opener posted in
 their home made me chuckle. 

6:45 pm - 12:30 am - The Grand Rapids crew laughed, and enjoyed the party. We
watched Curly dance. We chuckled when Tank's best friend's freshman in hs little brother talked for a long time to Curly. Hey, maybe he digs older chicks? 

12:30 am - we Uber'd back to the hotel. Tank fell asleep in his clothes, face down on his bed. Mini hit him with a pillow during the night:  "Stop snoring!" The air mattress Curly brought failed her. Her butt was on the floor. Despite the nonsense, I enjoyed some long stretches of sleep. 

9:00 am - I'd decided that 9:30 am was the latest we could leave. Reg needed to meet Thomas, his ride back to Omaha. Thomas lives in Grand Rapids. I'd met his mom at the party. I needed to drop Mini at ND (slight detour), get home, and drive Reg 25 min south of our house to meet Thomas.

I roused the gang and put my contacts in. 

Confession: I sometimes wear my daily  contacts an additional day. 

My lens ripped in half in my eye. Curly eventually found the hidden half, and helped me get it out but my one-eye'd status slowed us down. Don't worry - I'm no longer reusing lenses. I'm a slow learner. 

11:20 am - dropped Tank off at a bagel place in South Bend, and circled back after I dropped Mini off. He needed food and my 'here's a banana' offering wasn't cutting it.

We'd just finished 'Culpabiliy' and had a mini book club 'how would you rank it?' discussion. Tank was annoyed he'd been subjected to it. Mini gave it a 3 out of 5. I'm maybe 3.5. I was interested in the story, but not the technical stuff - even though I know that was the whole point. Curly listened to music, unaware that a book was playing. She'd rather stream 'Castle' than read. I'm hoping she'll discover a love of reading eventually. I didn't embrace reading till I was a grown-ass adult. 

We got gas. I kept waiting for Reg to leave mass, so he could text me Thomas' ETA. 

12:00 pm - we got home. I scraped together some leftovers for Tank to take home and I told him to use my cc to Uber back to the city. I drove Reg. 

12:32 pm - we arrived 2 minutes before Thomas. (wipes sweat from brow). Kay and Rae were with me for . . .                                            

our next adventure. STAY TUNED. 

******

You can try, but there's literally no chance you'll guess where the girls and I ventured next. Have you read Culpability?  If so, what would you rate it?

the blow by blow of 3/14th weekend: Part 1 - the pivot, the fob, Irish soda bread, airport, & everything in between

Thursday (3/12th leading up to St. Pat's weekend) -  

9:00 pm - Curly decides she's gonna join the party bus for Grand Rapids. I was excited she decided to join us, because her high school friends suck. 

Curly was a big piece of the weekend childcare puzzle. Time to pivot. 

10:00 pm - I went to bed early. My gut kept me up. Reg came home from a friend's, saw me up late, and agreed to drive Rae to school in the morning. I went to sleep at 2 am. 

Guess how much I miss Mr. Helpful? 

Friday - Nana's 84th birthday. Coach flew to Delaware early morning to teach a class.

7:25 am - Reg drove Rae, even though I was up early. I did strength workout, pulled out the soda bread ingredients.

8:44 am - walked with my new friend at the health club. Rae could hang out at her house Saturday for a few hours. 

10:00 am - I baked Irish soda bread, and hopped in the shower. The bread wasn't done when I wanted to go to 11:30 mass with Reg. I texted him "I'll be late."

While I was in the shower, he'd come home from his workout and his 5th visit to the grocery store that week.  Nothing says it's Soda Bread Season like a panic 'Need butter and buttermilk' text.

Why did he switch cars after the grocery drop off - and MORE IMPORTANTLY why did he drive off in the minivan with the Tex fob?

11:35 am - with the bread out of the oven, I managed to get GW around the stranded minivan on the driveway. 

Guess how no fob impacted my 'already late' status?  

1:00 pm - Delivered soda bread for Nana's bday with Reg and Curly. Then I napped for 15 minutes. 

Late afternoon - I made two 7 layer taco dips. One for Grand Rapids. One for Reg to serve at his St. Pat's gathering in our basement. I loaded my crockpot with dinner for Sat night and then delivered plates of soda bread to friends. 

7:15  pm - Picked Mini up from O'Hare. Her spring break was an immersion week, not a mission trip, in New Mexico. (I'd mislabeled it) They spent time with indigenous people on reservations learning about school systems, the challenges they face, etc. 

She would've been compelled to stay with the group and take a bus back to South Bend from O'Hare, exception made for neighbor Mike's funeral. 

8:30 pm - Mini and I stopped by my folks' house on our way home. 

My green and a few
dressy offerings.

9:00 pm - Mini, Curly and I raided my closet for options for the funeral (Mini hadn't packed dressy or green clothes for NW) and for the St. Pat's party. Curly leads a 'sweats only' lifestyle. 

9:30 - 10:45 pm - I watched part of a movie with Mini and Curly.

Have you seen Chef?  Really good, but I still haven't finished it - which might speak to Mini's 'finish it tonight or else' rule. She was an angry elf when Curly and I opted to go to bed mid-movie. 

10:50 pm - plugged in the crockpot. It cooked all night, so I could snag some dinner before our road trip. 

Saturday:  Kay and I had to leave at 7:10 am for science fair. I set my alarm for 7:05. 

6:20 am - Kay's alarm went off forEVAH. She was already downstairs when I went in the girls' room to turn it off. 

Guess who was not happy to be woken up 45 minutes early? 

7:10 am - switched crock pot to warm, and drove Kay. 

7:25 am - Tank texted: "Taking train home, arriving at 11:18." We'd be at the funeral, so no one could pick him up from train.

In a moment of clarity:  We're outnumbered cars to people almost 2:1, so Reg and I could leave a car at the station for Tank. 

7:50 am - I got home. Reg and his friends were in the basement, because Curly, Mini, and Rae were still sleeping. He'd made them waffles and someone brought a coffee cake. Breakfast before the FREEZING downtown parade. 

I couldn't wrap my brain around a parade, but I was racing off to MI for a party, so who am I to throw stones?

Me (hollering down the stairs to the small crowd):  We need to leave in 2 min, so we can drop a car off for Tank.

Reg's group took a train to the parade last year. The trains were already full by the time they got to our station, some didn't stop. They waited forever. This year they wanted me to drive them to a station farther west, so they'd be assured of getting a spot on a train.

8:07 am - I corralled Reg's crew into the minivan. Reg drove Tex. 

Me (to his friends):  Reg knows, but I'm telling you. Reg needs to be home by 3:30 for his sisters. And he can't be overly tipsy. 

The crowd:  Yep, sure thing. 

*****

Conclusion next time - if you're interested. I don't know - maybe I should classify this post as 'seemed like a good idea at the time'. Now that I've written it - it's so long. *sigh* Sorry. Thanks for hanging in there. Can you predict what goes slightly askew? Do your people get angry if you don't finish a movie in one sitting?

You can take the Irish dancer out of class, but can you take the dance out of the dancer? Curly videos

I have a lot to share about the Grand Rapids adventure last weekend, but in the interest of time and because I glossed over St. Patrick's Day - I'm gonna share a few videos of Curly Irish dancing Saturday night with Tank's best friend and his best friend's sisters - one of whom is the roommate of one of my nieces (Marie's daughter). Remember that cray-cray small world/6 degrees of separation story? 

Curly's in the bright green shirt. 

Mini bowed out of performing, saying her performance at the ND show end of Jan. was her swan song. I still have to post about that. Guess who played a joke on her friend and gave the audience a good chuckle?

Tank grew up Irish dancing and performing and competing - always with his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth (back before he bit through it). His shirt tail would be partially untucked. He looked as though he'd spent the night in the pub and had just rolled in, not quite ready to perform. Foreshadow much? He'd often weep right before going on stage after forgetting all of his steps.

Picture me standing side stage:  Brush brush change, brush brush change, cut hop up two three four, etc. - where would he have been if his mother hadn't known a thing or two about dancing? Probably on year round swim team, but who even knows. 

Anyway, Tank legit hid at the party just before the dance portion began. He hightailed it to the backyard where there were heaters and a keg, saying No way to dancing. They paged him using the microphone. Still, no go. His friend did an excellent job of faking it. With his curly red hair and green outfit, who was even looking at his feet? 

***

I fly to SC later today. This coach is very interested in adding Curly to her D II roster for next year. I'm anxious to see the campus and have Curly meet the team, etc. She's not thrilled about the distance, but Coach's brother - the one with nine kids, who's two kids flew here to surprise her for her birthday, live 1 hr 45 min from Aiken. 

In the meantime, we're waiting to see if Saint Mary's (division III, so no money for athletics) of Notre Dame, where I went to school, gets creative and finds some scholarship money to make that option more affordable. 

***

Did you do anything special (like drive 3 hours and stay in a hotel to attend a party out of state) to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?  Can you fake Irish dance?

Curly misses doing the performance Irish dance team. I saw kids dancing on the morning news this week and the look of exhaustion on their parents' faces when they were interviewed after the performance . . . well, Relatable. 

I do NOT miss it. 

Curly felt nostalgic after the party, so on Tuesday night while Coach and I played Code Names with the little girls, she went into the basement and facetimed her b-ball bestie, who's never seen her dance. As she showed off her moves, Kay and Rae were like IT'S SO LOUD. Coach and I:  That was the background noise to our lives for SO long.

so much: Huge hail, heartbreak, & weather hiccups *(Happy St. Pat's - lost track of my days, Irish dancing video later in the week)

Life was chaos Sunday night, and
while I was fielding calls about
 flights and cars, I was sort of
watching the Oscars. I texted
 Mini a photo of this dress.
My fav of the night.

OMG - life . . . nonstop. Some of it is my own doing. Shock. (Yes, I'm referring to my road trip to attend a St. Pat's party 3 hrs away - no regrets, but TIRED). I'm behind on commenting and responding, but caught up on reading. I've been trying to blog and comment when time allows, not concerning myself with a schedule. As a result, I sometimes feel behind and disconnected, and I've even considered waving the white blog flag, because time tends to pull me in different directions. But I'm here today, and I have things to share

Hail hell no:  What's with the crazy weather lately? We had record breaking sized hail, measuring at 5-6 inches during a storm last week. Yes,  5-6 INCHES. It was loud in my closet which is essentially in the attic, where I was putting away laundry. I wondered if it was dangerous to be in there.  

Photos someone posted of hail
 near our house. Not the
biggest pieces, but still BIG. 

A few years ago, most of our neighbors had their roofs replaced after a tornado, or a hail storm, or all of the above. We intended to wait till we could get a guy we know to do it. Preferred to give our business to someone we knew. That never materialized. A few months ago a roofer came to the door, offering to file a claim. Insurance is covering our roof - HUGE!

After this hail storm:  roofing places bombarded us with phone calls, text messages, and knock on our door. I finally hung a note over our doorbell.  OUR NEW ROOF ARRIVES APRIL 15. DON'T RING OUR BELL. WE'RE ALL SET. 

Translation:  wake up a sleeping baby in my house, and you'll be assessing more than damaged roofs. 

Hard to believe:   I'm the last one to know stuff, esp other people's business. A 'for sale' sign went in our friend/neighbor's yard in fall '24. I saw him at Curly's volleyball game. 

Me:  Mike, where are you guys going? You can't leave the neighborhood. You're our favorite neighbors. 

Mike:  We're getting a divorce.

You could've blown me over. When our kids were younger, we hung out with them. They have 3 girls. Oldest is Mini's age. Curly's between the younger two. She played volleyball with them. Our kids were on swim team together in the summers. Mike and Mary  -  the most fun, laid back, and hilarious friends. They hosted the best Halloween parties for adults and their costumes were always genius. They invited us over to have drinks on their deck during covid (some of you might recall - we got a concerning text from Ed about Lad and we bolted minutes after we arrived). Back in 2018 maybe, we invited 3 couples to an ND game before we had a kid there. We all drove in GW. Tailgating with Mike and Mary and the other couples was a blast. 

It became clear during the rest of that '24 volleyball season that Mike had a problem. He was inebriated at the games. He'd been told by doctors that he had to stop drinking. He tried rehab briefly. His liver failed and he passed away a few weeks ago. 

The 3 daughters spoke at the service on Saturday with the oldest sharing how addiction is a disease, and that they'd miss their dad so much, but the way he died doesn't change who he was or what a great dad he was. 

She really nailed it. My heart aches for them. It's still so hard to believe.

When things settle down, I'll drop off food for them. I wish they were still in their house down the street. I miss Mike waving as I drove by him while he was walking his dog.  

Oh the weather ALL OVER is frightful:  Fortunately the weather to and from Grand Rapids was fine. Yes, I went. More on that adventure later. 

Coach sent this pic on his flight
 to Delaware. "There's a person under
this blanket in the seat next to me."

Coach missed Mike's funeral, because he was teaching in Delaware. He texted me Sunday that loads of flights to Chicago were being cancelled. In my haze of a busy weekend, I'd not seen a forecast. I was clueless. He sat on the plane for 6 hours hoping they'd take off. When I went to bed, he wasn't sure he'd get home. 

Meanwhile, Reg was on his way back to Omaha after spring break. A kid 'Thomas' was driving him. He was a few hours away from campus. 

He texted me:  MOM WE WERE IN A BAD CAR ACCIDENT JUST NOW.

Thankfully he called one second later. Things weren't as bad as the text sounded. Praise the lord. Thank goodness I don't have a heart condition, but hmm - maybe I do now? No one was hurt. The authorities shut down the interstate in Iowa. Snow, blowing, slippery roads. The trifecta of bad driving weather. 

I called Tank who jumped into action and connected me with other Creighton students driving back, hoping they might be able to pick up Reg and Thomas. We decided everyone should stay in nearby hotels, and a few guys would pick up the 2 stranded guys Monday morning. Then a few more Creighton kids drove up in a Jeep, picked up Reg and Thomas, drove 35 mph on back roads, making it back to campus late Sunday night. 

I'm so grateful no one was hurt. 

This text exchange is from Monday night,
as I was drafting this. Ed flew to
Houston today for work. Ugh.

Another kid in the Tank-generated group chat was stuck in traffic about an hour ahead of Reg. He'd been sitting behind a bad accident for two hours. We suspect there was loss of life. 

I woke up in the middle of the night, surprised to see Coach asleep in the bed next to me. It would've felt more 'Trains Planes and Automobiles'-ish if  . . . 

Me:  Where are your hands?

Him: Between two pillows . . . 

Me:  THOSE AREN'T PILLOWS. 

But I thought I should let him sleep vs waking him up to recreate a beloved movie scene. Turns out he got home at 2 am. 

***

Crazy weather in your neck of the woods? Do you get roofers coming out of the woodwork after a storm?