Keeping it close

There are certain things you don't realize aren't the norm for everyone until you are much older.

For instance, it wasn't until I was in high school going into college, that I realized (as in, it really dawned on me) that not everyone has family close by.

For me it was never a question.  All of my Mama's brother and sisters lived on the same road (the same road I currently live off of, mind you), until Aunt Connie got high and mighty and married a man named Buzzy who lived a whopping 30 minutes away in Buzzard's Corner (yes, that is really what it is called)!

It was a big deal.

And I'm not being facetious there.

I was somewhere around 11 when all that went down.  Connie wasn't the first of Grandma's children to move out of the community, other aunts and uncles had lived in New Bern for short stints as well, but Aunt Connie was the first to settle down away from home.
She always was a trailblazer, to which I attribute it starting when she bought that motorcycle…

Anywho, when my husband, who at the time was merely my older brother's long-haired, hippie friend, first came to visit "home", he was shocked that everyone lived on the same road. We were shocked that he was so shocked.
Even though he comes from a large family with lots of aunts and uncles, they all lived a little more dispersed throughout the Minneapolis area.

Not here.  We like things nice and close. :)

It's still like that today. 

When The Hubs and I moved back to this area four years ago from Wilmington, NC, we first started looking for houses in the surrounding little towns, but then realized, what was the use?

We moved back to be closer to family. (And close was what we got in that situation--living with my parents for 2 years before moving in our own home again…but I'll save that for a later post…)

When we finally did move into our new home, it was (and is) within spitting range (okay, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration) to not only my parents, but two of my uncles homes too.

Just yesterday, Sugar and I took a walk through the woods to Grandma and Pop's. 

Here she is now (with our fat cat in the forefront).

It's not a long walk, maybe half a mile, but not quite.

It's through the same woods I spent countless hours as a child building forts, playing hide and seek (deer and dog if you're from this area) and stealing smokes (um, yeah, about that, Mom…).

I love living here. 

In the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere. 

But close enough to what matters.

The good old days.

In the last episode of The Office,  Andy says "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days, before you've actually left them."

Since hearing that, The Hubs and I will half-jokingly remark this whenever we see fit, usually when Sass is being a typical teenage girl or when the dog poops on the floor, or insert any typical family drama here.

Lately, though, we have both been more aware of how accurate Andy is.

For most accounts, we don't realize we're in the "good old days", until they are long gone.

I realized recently, however, that maybe The Hubs and I are at the "good old days" stage of life.

Both our kids are still at home (barely), we are both in the middle of our careers and our parents are all still healthy.

Relatively speaking, life is pretty darn good!

We are beyond blessed.

These ARE our golden years.

And it's kind of scary.

Not that I'm disappointed in the least. In fact, I am sometimes overwhelmed at how gracious God has been.

It's scary, because I know they won't last forever. 

Not the way they are now, anyway.

One of my first blog posts was about how poorly I was handling the fact that Sass leaves for college next fall (read here).

I'm still not sure how I will handle that, although I sometimes think she is preparing me to let go by driving me absolutely crazy first…:)

But I know this stage won't last forever, just like the baby stage didn't.
And it hurts a little.

My sweet husband tells me once the kids are gone, we'll get to do all the stuff we never could before and have the money to fix the house the way we want it and other lies to try to comfort me.

And I appreciate his attempts, I truly do, but I know what it's like to look back at those baby pictures and yearn to hold that sweet baby face close to yours just once more--so what's it going to be like to have more pictures to yearn for???

I'm being ridiculous, I know.

Life is sweet, but fleeting.

Maybe it's the last glow of the Christmas tree that will come down tomorrow that is making me so nostalgic.
Or maybe it's the post-holiday blues that like to creep in when you've been awake too long.

Whatever it is, the good old days are bittersweet, even when you are in the midst of them.
I don't know the secret on how to savor every last minute of them other than to try.

This little gem has been circulating on Facebook the past few days. It has been shared from renowned children's author and illustrator, Patricia Polacco's FB page.  It sums up perfectly how these good old days Andy speaks of in The Office are gone in a flash, so you better relish them while you can!

The Art of Piddling

So, Christmas is over.
Just.like.that.

And it was as beautiful as ever, minus the stomach bug, fever and chills.

Seriously, it was great.

I always ask my kids what was the favorite part of whatever we've been doing (favorite part of your weekend, favorite part of your birthday, etc.,) and I think my favorite part of this year's Christmas would either be listening as Daddy read the Christmas story from the Bible as he does every Christmas morning, or goofing off Christmas Eve night with my brother, his wife, a few cousins and the rest of my brood. It was good for the soul.

Sugar woke up this morning and her first words, I kid you not, were, "Only 364 more days 'til Christmas!"

You have to love her enthusiasm…

Since The Hubs has to work the next two days, this morning we decided to join the crazies and venture out to Target the day after the biggest holiday of the year.

Probably not the best idea, but if I'm totally honest, I agreed because I knew lunch was involved.

And I had some Christmas $$$ to spend.

Oh, and of course, to spend some quality time with my main squeeze.

This afternoon, however, has been my "favorite part" of today.

I piddled.

I did a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but not a whole lot of anything.

I made room for our new coffee maker. And then moved it somewhere else. And then moved it back.

I took a few decorations down, but decided I wasn't quite ready for that, so I stopped.

Started a box for things I plan on purging.

Cleaned out my purse.

Painted my toenails.

Looked through some old pictures.

I did all this with no agenda, no timeline and with complete ease.
It was wonderful!

It's not often we get to piddle in this house.  There is usually some kind of timeline we're dealing with that inhibits the art of piddling. We have to hurry up and get going to the next event or task in order to accomplish what needs to get done. Its a necessary evil at times, that scheduling.

However, on days when piddling is possible, piddle on baby!

Piddling is underrated and underutilized. It allows us to slow down the pace, enjoy what is ours, while still semi-accomplishing things.

Piddling can also lead to plundering, but that is a whole different post…

I can only hope in these last few days of the year, you find the time to piddle. Time to move at your own pace, get some things done (or not), time to pamper yourself or nap a little. Life will catch back up with you soon enough.

Until then, piddle on!

Merry Converse!

So, this week has been a little crazy town.

I work in my local school system as a school librarian, and not only has it been the week before Christmas vacation, we have also had a full moon.

And vomit.

A bug has been spreading through our school. My week has consisted of avoiding hallways that smell like puke, using hand sanitizer like a feen and praying I don't get sick over Christmas break.

So far I've dodged the bullet, knock on wood.

Despite the barf, I really love working in an elementary school this time of year.  Nothing puts you in the Christmas spirit like Kindergartners jacked up on Santa.  The Christmas art work alone is enough to put a smile in your heart.

Speaking of smiles in your heart, the other day ago, Sugar told me she didn't like big, fancy Christmas trees because they don't look real. She said real Christmas trees have homemade ornaments.  Good thing ours is real:)

Not that it is homemade, but one of my most beloved ornaments is a pair of old shoes that Sugar wore as a baby. I bought these at Kohl's one year after Christmas and paid less than $5 for them.  They were big when I bought them, but Lil' Sugar got 2 good years of wear out of them.

And now, we get a lifetime of Christmas memories out of them:)

Merry Christmas!