Life as We Know It

Many of you probably know that I am old fashioned for the most part, sentimental, nostalgic, and romantic. This year has been a journey of learning to adjust to new things and being ever flexible. From working part time to now having a full time career, and my two boys turning into soldiers bound for the unknown. The only constant has been church and family. I do miss the days of having more time with the family, and even more free time to just gallivant around town, or slipping out of town with my Man. As the time nears for the boys to leave for Basic Training, we are trying to treasure the little moments. We had hoped that this would be a Thanksgiving spent together, but the boys will have to work different schedules.... so Christmas has become even more special. Our little family is working to make this a Christmas to remember. I want them to have memories to take with them, that will last them when they want to give up.
Will I miss them? Of course!!! I will miss their conversations, their presence, and especially their strength for the heavy lifting. Our lives as we know it will change drastically. There are many things I won't be able to do without them. I am already going to have to adjust our living space and accouterments so that I can take care of things without any help.

Next year, if the Lord should tarry, will unfold even more changes. Life as We Know It always changes, each day is different, and we are NOT promised tomorrow. So, although I miss how life USED to be, I want to make the most of what LIFE will BE for as long as I am here.

BTW Happy Birthday to Cheyenne. Oh, and Rachel.. I see you when I look in the mirror.... it keeps you in my mind's eye :) Love you Sis!


Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Bucket List

Ever have a day that you suddenly got to do something you never thought you would get to do?

Ted's brother Tim called last night to see if Ted and the guys wanted to go see a football game that he had tickets to in Wake Forest. I piped up and said.. "I want to go!"

It turns out that only Ted and I were able to go with Tim today. I have not been to a football game in real life since my Dad took me to see the Big Red play at Cornell when I was probably in junior high. I am not an avid sports fan because I prefer to see the game played in real life and not on tv at the mercy of the cameraman. I was a ready fan of the Dallas Cowboys back when they had the praying coach(Tom Landry) and of course the Dream Team and the Chicago Bulls. After those classic years I just lost interest. Ted has never been huge on sports until lately so the football game is seen more often on our tv then it used to.

The actual chance to go to a game with free tickets and spend a day completely away with Ted and totally out of the normal was a chance I did not want to pass up! Now, this will sound like bragging, but really it's a blessing.... My sister in law works at a bank and the president of the bank had these "extra" tickets he wasn't going to use. He asked Tim if they wanted them. Now these tickets were NOT just your average bleacher seats like I had expected. Oh No, these were Club seats!! as in nice comfortable cushioned seats with cup holders up near the Box seats!!! I found out later that they cost $300 per ticket!!!!! That's right we got free tickets to exclusive seating at a real live football game!

Now, it was the Wake Forest Demon Deacons(anyone with that name is not on my cheering roster) and the Florida State Seminoles(a team that I had cheered on a year ago for some unknown reason). I was sitting in Wake Forest Club seats cheering on the opposing team! Needless to say the deacons were trounced, and we ended up leaving about 5 minutes before the last buzzer. I had wanted to see the whole thing, but Tim and Ted were not happy with Wake Forest only have 3 pts in the entire game. They were trying to be loyal to our state team.

We drove back to Tim and Jen's and decided to go out to eat. The town they live in is growing rapidly but the restaurant selection is still limited. They mentioned a restaurant that Ted used to tell me he wanted to take me to someday(20 years ago when we lived in that town and James was a baby!). I have always wanted to see what it was like since Ted wanted to take me there. I had to wait 2 decades, but we went tonight! The food was very good, and the time spent with family was incomparable!

So IF I had a bucket list, I could definitely cross off two things that might have appeared on that list.
A real live football game watching my team win while sitting in expensive comfortable seats, and then going to a restaurant that I have always wanted to eat at.....
Definitely a Saturday to remember!

Salute! Pledge!

That's right, It just seemed appropriate to title this post with the well known phrase that may have come to mind from my last post. Why? Well James officially enlisted in the Army this week. Yes, that's right, both of my young men are now officially US government property. James teared up while taking the oath, because he struggles with the political view that is prevalent right now. When he took that pledge, he was only thinking of the negative. I pray that God will remind him that darkness is only for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Just an update on what else is going on in our lives.

Ted was able to reopen his Shelby store and it's doing very well. Now they are renovating another one of his stores, and he is helping another district with their renovation projects as well.

I am still learning much about my job and ask that you pray I keep it all straight. Next week, I will be in charge of a wedding reception, help Ted cater a birthday party for my niece, finish organizing the menu for our huge family Thanksgiving dinner, and get ready to travel to Virginia for a weekend.
What does all that mean? That means TOMORROW I just want to SLEEP :)