The Huddle

Yesterday was Mother's Day.  I am going to be blunt.   My children don't make it special.   It is just another day where dishes pile up and laundry has to be done , and flowers are bought at 10 o'clock in the morning.     Though it breaks my heart a tiny bit; I do feel blessed that my kids are healthy and I loved the flowers.    In the grand scheme of things we are really aren't a family that makes a big deal about any holiday, birthday, anniversary!   And that likely is all on me.  If I wanted a big hoopla for Mother's Day, than I probably should have started from the moment they were little - making all events more special and memorable.    I had a nice day, I spent the morning with my parents (I broke the Stay Home orders...)!  We visited and watched the online Worship service together.  We laughed and it was so nice.   It was exactly where I needed to be.    When I got home w...

The weeks go by fast despite no where to go.  Kids continue to not be excited about the home school work.  They aren't motivated and I am failing at finding a way to get them on board.  I will keep trying!  I don't worry they will fail behind - but I just want them to progress like they would have if they were in school.   I do know that they are able to spend more quality time on learning other things.  Reese is baking more - and learning that following a recipe exactly is critical.   Parker is cooking, becoming a master fisherman and started a little business.  I think my biggest angst around what the fall will look like.  I read all of these articles on what "may" be; and it just makes my mind go crazy.   We will figure it out, whatever it is.  Aaron and Parker fished every chance they could.  Our freezer is getting full and I am so grateful for that.   Aaron gives fish away to friends and famil...

I come from a long line of women on both side of my family that grew gray hair early.  I mean I have had grey hair since I was 18ish.   (The only plus side of it all is that my sweet younger brothers also have the affliction).  All of this is in joke of course, because there are people with much worse genetic hand me downs than ours!  What this means is that as the years have rolled by, I have had to color my hair more frequently.   It started with a couple times a year to now every 4 weeks (and that is a stretch).  I used to color myself - it was messy and never looked that great.  I have had it done by professionals for a long time now.  And expense I bare, because I am vain.   I have dark hair and the gray (almost white hairs) coming out of my scalp with a vengeance everyday a millimeter more, just chips away at my self esteem. You can only wear a hat so much.   I am to the point that I will likely need to start ...

Happy Birthday Parker!  14 has been your sports number forever and now you are 14!   This morning you are fishing with your friends, no place you would rather be.  I am so proud of how you have handled the COVID quarantine; you get up every morning to help dad, exercise, hunt or fish.  You spend almost the entire day outside working on your fort or hanging in the barn.  You have enjoyed making dinner; becoming quite good at cooking fish, potatoes, chicken!     You even became entreprenuerial, starting a tackle making business with a friend.   You spend time each day tying lures and packaging them up to sell.   I haven't heard you complain once in 7 weeks; I feel like this downtime has been good for you.  We have a long summer ahead of us and I know there will be days that aren't fun or perfect; but keep up your positive attitude and you will make it thru and before you know it; you will be in High School. I am ...

For 8 years I have had the most amazing manager  - Carrie Fletcher.   Once a month on Friday afternoon, we met for a 1 on 1 call .  It was always a true pleasure to kick off that weekend that way.  We would talk about work, but then we would dive right into the fun stuff.   Carrie is married and lives in NJ outside NYC.  She is from NYC and Jewish, two things that I find so fascinating and interesting.   We would share stories about our families and talk about Broadway shows, TV shows & movies.   We truly have a friendship, though we have never meet in person.  Today, she notified me that in order to protect me; she had to move me to a new organization and leader.   Major cuts are planned for her team and she has been working diligently since Monday to find new teams / places her valued team members.    I am heart broken to the point of tears.   I don't clearly understand it all, it wil...

Today starts the 6th week of Quarantine.   The end of last week the School District handed out workbooks for the students and starting today, teachers will be sending out assignments and be available for questions, etc.    My kids aren't thrilled, but I know that many families/children will be excited to to a little school work again.  Work has not changed for me.   But what has changed is the time our family has.   As I worked outside this weekend (shoveling, using wheel barrow, racking sticks, etc.), I thought about how much time there is in a weekend and how the days feel long and accomplished.   I don't really miss the places that used to be on the weekends.  I wish I had the option to go, but not having the obligation has created a little less stress and anxiety for sure.  Aaron is working every other day, so on his days off; he and Parker are tackling projects and I see Parker learning things that in days prior ...