Week in My Life: Day 5, Friday

{Once a year, I take time to document my life for a week. I was inspired by the ever-gracious Melissa from Adventuroo. The idea is brilliant, really. I so rarely document the nitty gritty of life and while there’s no way I can do this every month, I can swing it once a year. I hope you enjoy the snapshot as much as I enjoy documenting the good, the bad and everything in between. Read here for day one, two, three, four, five, six and seven.}

“Mom, I don’t feel good.” Not exactly the words I hoped to hear upon waking up this morning.

John Paul appeared to be coming down with the same virus as Luke. Because the kids had a half day, I decided to keep him home. After a quick breakfast, the big three headed off to school with Scott, while I showered and gathered Luke and John Paul in the van.

Once a week, Luke attends therapy – occupational/feeding, speech and physical – for two hours. We cross-treat with speech and physical therapy so we don’t have to add an additional hour. That is a Godsend. Add to the fact that we LOVE his therapists and it’s such a wonderful place for Luke. I barely got a “see ya later, Mom” before Luke grabbed Laurie’s hand and trotted off to the feeding room.

John Paul and I spent the morning getting a few groceries for his and Will’s upcoming 4-H Food Show entries.

We had just enough time to grab a little treat from Starbucks, too. He wasn’t solely convinced the Passion Tea was going to be good. I assured him as a non-coffee drinker (oh man, how I detest coffee) I had tried everything in Starbucks and knew the winners. In the end, he concurred.

One of the many endearing things about John Paul is that he is so curious. He asks questions. A lot. On the way into the store, we had this exchange:

Me: “John Paul, why do you ask so many questions?”
John Paul: “Because I like to talk.”
Me: {giggles}
John Paul: “I want people to go inside their brains and then give me an answer.”

His initial rocky start to the day seemed to be improving and I had high hopes that it was just some allergies. I enjoyed my morning with John Paul. Tremendously. We headed back to therapy to pick up Luke and I had a chance to visit with his therapists. PT did an assessment and we talked about some options for doctors. I think we may have found an answer, but the jury is still out until we meet with the new guy, based here in Austin.

The big kids had an early release day so we had just enough time to swing by the mall and pick out some new shoes for Luke. Big day! For the first time – ever – we bought him shoes without braces. Sometimes the baby steps feel like huge leaps forward. A sidenote worth mentioning: Luke’s outfit on Friday? Yeah, he wore his pajamas all day. Quite honestly, I buckled him in the van, got five minutes down the road to therapy when I looked in the rearview mirror and realized I never changed him. I did remember to change the diaper though. That’s something.

Then, it was off to sit in carline (where Luke fell asleep, that came back to bite me) and pick up the bigs from school. We arrived home, ate leftovers for lunch and I put Luke down for a nap. Will enjoyed an afternoon playdate with a friend. Because I didn’t get much client work in this week and I knew we’d be heading out of town, I let the other three have some screen time, reading time or quiet playing time while I worked and got packed. In theory, it sounded like a brilliant plan. Until 20 minutes later John Paul came downstairs with a fever and Luke’s “nap” was not. I hear, “MA! I wake up!”

Well dammit.

It always goes this way, doesn’t it? The one afternoon you need to get one billion things done, all the plans fall apart. I tried, with complete failure, to get him to take a nap. After 30 minutes I threw my hands up in the air and got him out of his room. I took John Paul’s temperature again and muttered something not so nice in my brain. This is about the time I started feeling very, very stressed. It’s also when I had to make the decision to separate out the “must be done’s” from the “nice to-do’s.” Scott arrived home not long after to find a a destroyed house, a cranky 4yo, a feverish 9yo and an exasperated wife standing in the closet with tears in her eyes.

You know how you have an awesome, relaxing weekend planned with your mister and then have 20 minutes to get your *$&# together and you don’t feel relaxed at all? Those are fun times. Scott just looked at me and said, “Whatever you wear will be beautiful. Go get packed and I’ll take care of the kids and the house.” After counting to ten, saying a few Hail Mary’s and looking in the mirror and realizing that life wasn’t nearly as drama-filled as I was making it, the afternoon went much smoother. I got packed, we dosed John Paul with meds, hugged my parents and then walked out the door.

I hate leaving my kids when they’re not 100%, but I also knew how badly Scott and I needed the time away. My parents are pros with the kids, so there was peace in knowing that they were in great hands. We arrived in College Station a couple hours later and the aura of Aggieland reminded me that we made the right decision.

It really is the other Holyland.

We enjoyed a nice reception at the Foundation, saw some old friends and then headed across town to the yell leader reunion. For the last 20 years, we’ve been to them all, except maybe two. The benefit of having dated a yell leader during college and then marrying him, is that many of these guys have been in our lives for over two decades. When I say they are dear friends, it is such an understatement. Case in point? David Lawhorne, Class of ’86. We’ve been at every reunion together since they began. Oh baby, do we share some funny stories.

Forgive me while I Aggie out on you for a moment. I know loads of universities who are all down with tradition. I do. I know they exist. But I believe, with complete objectivity, that my alma mater has the market on beloved traditions. My most favorite, of which, are the yell leaders. Trust me, you can ask my freshman college roommate how much I loved these guys. This was well before Scott and Kathryn were “Scott and Kathryn.” There was something so pure, so fundamental to the Aggie spirit about them that I was drawn to.

Of the 217 living yell leaders, about 75 or so attend the reunion. They all have a story, they’re all extroverts and they all love A&M. Like LOVE Aggieland. Some of us wives have been around a long time, y’all. It is the most cherished group of Aggies I know and hugging their necks and sharing our stories are my most precious memories of my beloved Texas A&M. So, yes, I’m a proud yell leader’s wife. I’ve been doing graphic design work for the Association of Former Yell Leaders since they began. Those boys hold a special place in my heart and Scott and I had an absolute blast.

A majority of the guys left the reunion and headed to Midnight Yell Practice. {For my non-Aggie friends think a pep rally, at midnight, with 40,000 of your closest friends at the football stadium. Awesome sauce.} In a stroke of irony, we did not attend because MIDNIGHT IS LATE. With an 11:30am game time, a 9:30am tailgate and a 7:30 wake up call, a 2am bedtime was not in my future. I did all that crazy 20 years ago. We enjoyed the hospitality of a great friend and former yell leader, Frank. And, I got eight hours of sleep, so hoo-rah for that.

That’s your day five!