weekending

The longer I'm away from this space, the harder it is to come back. I think it's because I'm linear in nature and get easily overwhelmed with picking the story back up where I left off when where I left off was so many stories ago. This blog details the days of my life, and well, I don't like missing pieces.

The most noteworthy event this past weekend was UW-Madison graduation. Ted earned his Master of Accounting and Meryl graduated from the School of Journalism. At Ted's request, the weekend really was all about Meryl. He had all the fanfare last year when he graduated from the Business School. He was a perfect gentleman and did not want to steal a single lumen of Meryl's spotlight. I am proud of both of them. We'll be having a little celebration for Ted at a date yet to be determined.

We drove up early Friday morning to join Meryl's family for brunch at her place. It was our first time meeting her mother. I liked her the minute she greeted me with a hug. She was warm and witty and we had many good conversations and quite a few laughs. We are both tickled with their pairing. Her brother and sister-in-law who flew in from London for the occasion were just as welcoming. We already knew and loved her dad. It's funny, but I could tell that Ted was nervous for the parents to meet. That added to my nerves, but it was all for nothing because the day could not have gone any better. Even Ted agreed.

The J School graduation was more intimate than the whole stadium shebang. Meryl walked across the stage when her name was called and we could actually see her. I know she could hear us cowbells and all. A former TA and fellow graduate (PhD) spoke so highly of Meryl and the way she connects to people. All people. She prophesied that Meryl will be famous some day. It doesn't take much to convince me of that although I think she's just perfectly happy telling people's stories. Ordinary people.

The graduates arrived in London very early this morning. They will spend a few days there and then head to the Amalfi Coast for a few more. It is a last hurray before entering the "real" world. Meryl starts her job at month's end reporting for a Madison station and Ted is hoping to study for and pass all 4 CPA exams before he starts his job at PWC after Labor Day.

After a long stretch of days and nights of celebrating, they came home for a night before jet setting off to Europe. We sat around the island catching up before sending them off on more adventures. Roots and wings baby.

I had one of the nicest Mother's Days I can remember. It was chill. We extended a rather impromptu invite to my mother-in-law to join us for brunch. She accepted. Mike made his homemade hash browns and Lily surprised me with a delicious (and very looksy) Flourless Chocolate Cake on the coolest cake stand ever. I made Eggs Benedict and a salad topped with sautéed goat cheese that I'm still thinking about. We had a couple lemonade mimosas that I'm quite sure will be on repeat this summer. Think light and refreshing. And after out delicious brunch we retired to the patio on what was the loveliest of lovely days.

 

Sunday I didn't dwell on the fact that I'm unmothered. I miss my mom every single day, but I felt very blessed not beleaguered. There are just too many good things happening in my life right now that I'm choosing joy and happiness over melancholy or nostalgia. I'm shining a light on the little things that remind me of how lucky I am to be alive. There are always challenges, disappointments, burdens, but I'm shushing them right now. Sometimes that's easier said than done, but when the days are long and my daughter is home and the birds sing and the flowers reach for the sun, it's pretty easy.

Lily has big things going on too. She's amazing! She finished out the semester with all As. Right now she's in the thick of training for the Ironman. In fact, before I was even thinking of getting up, she biked 25 miles this morning. She's also working on her study abroad application. She hopes to be in Spain spring semester and she's already dreaming of all the places she'll go. Teddy's infected her with the travel bug for which going, doing, seeing is the only cure. It's a good ailment to have when you're approaching 20 and your whole life is in front of you. She starts her job at the end of this month. Until then, she's the Gus whisperer. As you can see...he's quite fine with that and Hazel... she's coming around.