To be young again

Betty Higden gravely shook her head. ‘I am strong for my time of life, sir, but not young, thank the Lord!’

‘Are you thankful for not being young?’

‘Yes, sir. If I was young, it would all have to be gone through again, and the end would be a weary way off, don’t you see?’

~ Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend

I recently celebrated my 44th birthday, which seems like it should be a special milestone in Hobbit lore. My brother, who is three years my senior, sent me an article titled “Scientists Find Humans Age Dramatically in Two Bursts—At 44, Then 60.”

Well, I don’t know what sixty’s like, but I pulled a muscle the other night by sleeping, so I’m looking forward to that.

The kids have another 80’s/90’s-themed event coming up, to prepare for which, Lizzy was scouring the internet for my high school yearbook—which, thankfully for middle-aged parents everywhere, is protected by a sign-in requirement. 

[If I wasn’t so old I would know what that’s called. It’s not a paywall because it’s free to sign up, but I don’t think it’s a firewall either…]

Anyhow, after my best recollections and descriptions and also googling the Full House cast, Dirty Dancing, Ferris Bueller, Molly Ringwald, and MC Hammer, Lizzy put together an outfit.

At one point she asked me why I was so pained by the thought of unearthing photo evidence of that time of my life, which is a good question—especially considering how much more it took for me to pull a muscle back then.

It’s not that my outfits were so cringey—one of my current favorite garments is a thick, hooded, wearable blanket. 

More to the point, being a teenager is inherently frustrating. You want to be an adult, you can almost see adulthood, but you’re not allowed to be an adult.

Also, news flash, high schools are full of jerks. And I had fewer inner resources back then to cope with mean people. 

I think worst of all, and why I don’t want to revisit myself in the 90’s, is that I was kind of a jerk. I mean, I’m kind of a jerk now, but a lot less of one than when I was 14. God’s goodness to me over a few decades means I’ve grown in empathy, grace, and kindness. 

So, no, I don’t want to go through all that again. I have enough growing to do in future decades, if the Lord wills, and heaven is a wearily-long-enough way off, without going back and being young again. Give me the muscle aches and short-term memory loss, and give me Jesus sooner than later.

Important things

 

Maddie helping us get ready for date night a few weeks ago, and discovering her career calling as a charcuterie arranger.

Today would start the fourth week of school for us, but some kind of plague has descended upon our household.

All three kids who live with us went to a youth retreat over the weekend; Liz and Caleb as campers and Ada as work crew; and, predictably, now they’re all three sick.

I don’t think that report on William of Malmesbury is going to happen.

Also, I’m not sure when we’ll ever catch up on Latin or anything else, because although I feel great at the moment, I assume I’ll come down with it around the time they start feeling better.

It’s been lots of fun watching Ada play volleyball for the dual reasons that she suddenly got really good this year and I don’t have to drive her, which means we can enjoy home games and live the rest of our lives when she has away games.

Caleb’s had exactly one soccer practice for the fall season, since he was too sick to go this week. And same with Lizzy and her lap swimming at the pool in town.

Last date night

While the kids were on retreat with the youth group, Jason was home alone because *I* went away for a long weekend with four other ladies, just for the sake of friends hanging out! It was wonderful. We talked and talked and talked and talked. We laughed; we cried. We played games that made us laugh until we cried. We went shopping. We did touristy stuff. We went out to dinner. We went out to lunch. And then we went back and put on our jammies and talked and talked some more.

I only missed one full day of school going away, but then we all came home and the kids have been sick ever since, so school is quietly piling up.

But going on retreat to hear from God’s word and bond with your friends old and new is sometimes more important than daily Latin review and a report on William of Malmesbury.

A fun puzzle that distracted Lizzy and me for quite a while—made of washer-softened scraps of paper I found in the back pocket of jeans I just got from the thrift store. We couldn’t get over the mystery of the extra note written on the grocery list—what for assistants?? And how did her spinach angel hair pasta turn out??

Teacher work days

I hired a last-minute painter to repaint the school room in mid-August. It was mildly embarrassing to let him into the end-of-summer state of things, but he did an excellent job. In fact, once he was done, the walls were the only admirable sight in the room.

Lizzy wanted to rearrange the furniture, so I let her have at it for a few days.

Several configurations were tried, and I was astonished to realize I could do without not one but four bookshelves. Seventh grade and up requires far fewer supplies than elementary grades.

When Lizzy had the furniture mostly situated, I got to work shoveling out the mess, not neglecting to put Caleb to work as well.

I worked all day and all evening on Thursday, but on Friday I only worked for a couple hours in the morning, because it was Welcome Day at the community college where Ada is taking her classes this year. And on the way there we stopped at the jeweler’s to pick up my newly sized rings!

Sadly, I haven’t been able to wear them since six months ago when I almost broke my finger getting the wedding band off and had to really admit my fingers are not the same size they were 20 years ago. 

I attended Welcome Day with Ada where we had her student ID made and got a parking pass. We bought her textbook and located the main campus buildings. When we left she was reasonably confident she could successfully attend her first class the following week.

Over the weekend we went to the county fair.

And had an early birthday party at Grandma’s house!

By Monday afternoon the school room was pretty orderly.

And by midweek we were able to start school in a nice, clean, organized room.

Ada leaving for her first day of community college classes