The devil, too, I've heard. Maybe this recapping business is a good thing.
(The China trip will come slowly. I'm not going to even try to start it today, but in organizing pictures, I'll be able to manage it in short sections. That, and I'm not at my laptop with all my pictures. I'm pretty sure my mom did a good job with my highlights anyway on Kiss My Bliss, which, complete with the family's commentary, will probably be more entertaining anyway.)
I'm trying to keep up with my current life, the Florida one. It won't last very long, and if I wait til the end of the summer to try and write it all down, it just won't happen. The summers are always worth remembering. I'm also hoping that, if I keep some sort of record of this summer, I won't have to start over when I get home next summer. I feel like that happens whether I want it to or not, but I can never remember what grade the kids are in, what they just finished, what programs they're in, what sports they play, etc. I have asked Jada at least 4 times what grade she's going into, and I think my brain won't let her move past 4th. She's told me all 4 times how excited she is to be starting middle school, which means 6th grade. I probably shouldn't ask her again.
So the summer! Probably the best place to start would be getting home...always the best adventure to write about :)
The first day is kind of a blur. I didn't sleep the night before, and trying to sleep on the plane didn't work out very well, but I managed to stay awake for the whole flight home. There are always interesting people to meet on the plane, and the two old women I'd sat with on both flights were more interested in me, too, when I was awake! Imagine that!
My dad came and picked me up, and we had our usual airport conversation. I just realized it was typical for us to have this conversation before I actually got to see him. Silly things, luggage, the flight, my ridiculous ideas (because I usually have just woken up about the time I get off the plane). One line from the conversation was something like, "We're only allowed to have one bag, so of course, I have three!" followed by my dad laughing. It was such a great feeling seeing my dad. I realized it's been 6 months. That's such a long time! We met my mom and the kids at a shopping center (Dad had to go back to work), and we went home and opened gifts! Then during dinner, Diana came over. I'm such a dork, I was kind of out of it and was excited to see her but acting really sleepy, and I said hello and gave her a huge hug, and then mom says, "Well, she has permission to kidnap you, so... go!" Steak n Shake (yum! I missed that place a lot!), the park, some random kid's house in Weston who I still don't know, the usual kidnapping routine. Man, I love our stake.
I started work the next morning, bright and early. It's been good to help put me back on normal sleeping hours, but it still is hard to be ready to function at 7AM. Brid got me a job working with an autistic boy that lives close to us, and we do therapy sessions with him. We do different drills, working on motor, literacy, speech, and social skills, for two hours at a time. It's really, really cool. I've learned so much from trying to teach the same things but never knowing quite what to expect from Jacob, the boy that we are working with. His moods are very transient, he's strong, he gets a lot of stimulation from touching things, and he loves to be held. His family (mom, dad, and older brother) loves him so much, and they also happen to think he's the funniest person in the world. It's cute to watch, but some of the deeper things I've noticed from their family have impressed me so much. They aren't members of the church, I don't know what kind of religious beliefs they may or may not have about family, but it's so important to them! That's so cool!
I also work with my mom in the afternoons in an office where my mom's boss gives me any project he hasn't been able to do in the past year or so. I've enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The projects range from running around the warehouse doing inventory to reconciling commissions (which actually isn't that fun, but when it's interrupted with a set of the boss' car keys and instructions to run this place and this place and this place... that's not bad.)
The first weekend home, my parents decided they wanted to go to Grand Cayman. So I was home with the kids. Probably the best way to get back into the swing of things- do it all by yourself for three days straight :) We had a blast.
We went to see WallE on Saturday night, Sunday we went to church (oh what a good time... I had started to forget what it's like to be in a family ward. And with my siblings? Haha. I also taught my mom's primary class, yet another adventure.) and I didn't put the roast in before church like Mom had suggested, so we had waffles for lunch. Only we added peanut butter and chocolate chips, served with strawberries and, well, the idea of whipped cream. We ran out... somehow. Can't imagine how that happened...
We started taking pictures at some of the random things we did (mattresses in the family room, dancing, trying to see how many of us would fit on the front room chairs, the usual), mostly letting Jada be the photographer. These were just a couple of the cute shots we got.
Mom and Dad didn't get back til Monday afternoon, in the which time we managed to get the house put back together and have a session of summer school, which consisted of teaching the kids the English version of Chinese sounds to teach them Mandarin. All in all, a good weekend!
I still kind of wonder why my parents still let me stay home with them. But I guess I have since the house is still standing, they've attended Church, and it's mostly clean when they get home...
their losses are minimal :P
And since then... I've learned to ride the bus (not having a car or being on my parents' insurance gets a little tricky, especially working in Dania Beach (all of 20 miles from my house), but I've really enjoyed getting to know public transportation. I say learning because, as simple as the system is, I have found a way to mess it up. There's a difference between the northbound and southbound buses... evidently the "S" doesn't actually stand for south), experienced Florida nature that I forgot we had, remembered how much I love the rain, and loved, loved, loved growing with my family. I really missed them. 6 months is such a long time! For as many things as I may not have been up to date with or forgotten about day to day life at home, I'm grateful that I haven't forgotten how to progress with them :)
I'm sure we've had lots of adventures that I haven't remembered to write down. Living them is better than trying to make sure their written down, if I can't do the ideal and stay on top of both! And I think I'm doing pretty well at living. I'll stick to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment