45… the day was pretty good. I loved spending the morning at the beach, alone, so peaceful. I left when all the families started arriving and went to lunch with my own family. Raised a glass to my mom and shared stories with the kids. Spent hours making a delicious cake with Robin. Christina told me what her gift was hours before she gave it to me (cannot keep a secret to save her life). I had a massive headache in the late afternoon until bedtime, but it did subside. I didn’t have the highest expectations, but the day turned out pretty well.
-
July 26
I didn’t get to the pool yesterday, thanks to the weather, so I took the day off from work and went this morning. I did not regret it. I always forget how refreshing the water is when it’s 102 degrees outside. Then we watched the Olympics opening ceremony, which was FOUR HOURS LONG OMG, but still pretty cool. Good day.
-
July 25
I had a tough day at work. A LOT of anger, some tears. And then it thundered when I had planned to go to the pool and I took the kids out to eat and forgot to bring my wallet. I’m continuing to watch the Ken Burns Civil War documentary and started to read a book of speeches by Martin Luther King. Although one involved the killing of almost a million Americans and one involved nonviolent demonstrations, there is a lot in common between the Civil War and the civil rights movement. At least I think so. Still developing that thought.
-
July 23
I went outside to take out the recycling and saw this beautiful almost-full moon behind these dramatic wispy clouds, so I went inside to get my camera, and the moon almost immediately disappeared behind a big fat dark cloud. I did get the last few moments of its glow and the pleasure of having seen it at all before it disappeared completely, so not a total loss.
-
July 22
Christina astounds me with her creative, adventurous spirit. Robin amazes me with her talent and accomplishments. She got her back handspring again today after months of injury, lackluster coaching, and holidays. She overcame her fear and did it. I love both of them with all my heart for all the reasons and more. I crawl out of the abyss for them every day and almost never regret it, which I could not say so many years ago. Grateful for all of it, all of them, all of us.
-
July 21
Church, then games at Java Game Haus, then food shopping, then dinner with friends (yes, friends in Jax!), then another episode of the Ken Burns film about the Civil War. I’m a little obsessed. I think there is a clue in it that we need in order to solve the problems we face today. I am still picking it apart to name it. I hope it matters.
-
July 20
Bunny is all done, wrapped, packaged, and ready to mail. I had fun making her. Also today we did some school shopping – we went to the St. Augustine outlets and bought the kids new shoes, a couple special new items of clothing, some bras, and Auntie Anne’s pretzels. And then we made fish sticks from scratch and went to see Inside Out 2, which I loved. And I think it left Robin feeling pretty validated, which is totally worth it. It was a nice Saturday.
-
July 19
Robin and I enjoyed an hour at the beach after dropping off Christina at camp. The waves were huge (by our standards) and even I went in the water to let them splash over me. It was so refreshing and we had fun laughing at each other as we got bowled over. We went and got coffee and breakfast at Panera and finished the day with an awesome dinner at European Street Cafe. Robin ate the world’s biggest hot dog, which is her favorite. And she ended her meal with the world’s largest gummy bear. Go big or go home!
-
July 16
Robin had kind of a lousy day at cheer stunt camp, but we had an hour to kill before tumbling practice, so we had an early dinner. We had a great meal with lots of great conversation, which has been lacking in our relationship for a while. And then she had a near-death experience which involved an epic burp and a cup of soda from McDonald’s and we laughed until we cried.
-
July 15
I was having a pretty good day until an hour before bedtime when I realized that Robin’s time limit was off on her phone. I turned it off and she hasn’t spoken to me since. I hate her phone and I want to throw it into the ocean. I miss her.
-
July 14
I finally finished redecorating our bedroom today. It still looks quite bare, and I still want to replace some of the furniture, and the ceiling needs to be painted, but it looks a lot better. I’m most proud of the photo wall I created, which isn’t in this picture but is pretty cool. There are almost 200 photos on the wall. It’s so cool because every time I look at it, I see another good memory. Each time I see something different. Maybe we’ll get some money to finish it at some point. For now it’s much better than it was. I actually like being in there.
-
July 13
I finished knitting bunny. Now blocking, stuffing, and dressing. I also spent almost four hours trying to finish up the bedroom, but still not quite there. It’s looking good, though! I also got to have lunch with Myrna, whom I haven’t seen in ages. It was a pretty full day.
Year in Photos 