Week 7--So Much Hockey & Swimming

Monday, Feb. 13th

I'm working on a project that has me hunting down old pictures.  Rabbit hole after rabbit hole, reminiscing, smiling, feeling the lump in my throat, wishing to rewind time and do it all again!  This was the only picture from the day, a picture of my screen I sent to Elizabeth and Lisa.

Tuesday, Feb. 14th

Happy Valentine's Day!  

It was a very regular day.  I made cookies for Trevor's swim team (like I do every meet) and Renna's soccer team.  Renna made sweet little notes and bagged up the cookies for her friends.  I also made chocolate covered strawberries for my favorite people.

Trevor had a meet right at Manchester High.

Wednesday, Feb. 15th
Look at us!!!  All winter I'd been grieving my walks with Lisa.  Somehow I believed that there would be no more and it bothered me that I didn't have a clear memory of the last one.  I took it for granted at the time, not noting the specialness of it or the label of "last walk."  Kinda like the last time you rock your baby to sleep or the last time you hold a kid on your hip, or fold a stroller.  All of sudden, you don't do it anymore.  Anyway, that's how I was feeling about our walks.  So I nearly dropped my phone when the text came through, "Want to walk this week?"  Tears filled my eyes.  And so, the Rockstar and I (and Harlem) hit our beloved trail, where over the last few years we've had many conversations about kids, teens, finances, husbands, faith, crazy family, and all the rest.  We sort of bring our highs and lows and work them together as we muddle through this life as best we can, always keeping each other in check.

We went up to Worcester to see Nathanael's exciting overtime win to advance them to their conference tournament!

At one point I was standing at the glass to take pictures, the UConn alum to my left were talking about Nathanael, or Nate as he's know at hockey, and then that led to, "I skated with his brother Colombo.  He was good kid, just really quiet unless you asked him a question.  He got married right after graduation."...

The people to my right (from WPI) were talking about how tall Nathanael is. "Yeah, he's tall, but he's not very big."

I wanted to raise my hand and say, "I'm the mom!!!!  And C4 is right up there in the stands if you want to go say hi!"

Thursday, Feb. 16th

We had Pastor Mitch's girls for the day.

Lisa sent this over to me and I'm embarrassed to say, I wouldn't have otherwise known.  I don't get involved in grades unless teachers reach out with concern.  He knows our expectations and he knows the consequences if he lets things slip.  However, I felt terrible that he achieved this and I didn't know.

Renna's state tournament began, ending in a tie.

Friday, Feb.  17th

Another meet.

The two-man tub kills me.  The two seated in white shirts are 2/3 judges.

He swam the 100 meter Free (his favorite) in 57:35 and came in 2nd.  But what was so exciting is he was in 3rd place the entire time until the last half a length and he sprinted to catch the kid in front of him and got him by .04 seconds!  It was AWESOME!  His coach was like, "Trevor!!!!  What was that?  Where has that been?!?!?"

Fist bump for his opponent.

Love from his teammates.

Colombo and I snuck in a date at Trattoria Toscana while the kids were at youth group.  Juliet watched Renna at the house; our little Valentine's celebration.

Saturday, Feb. 18th

Nathanael and I road tripped up to Nashua, NH to his tournament game.  We had a LOVELY day together even though their team lost, ending their season.

Sunday, Feb. 19th

C4 and I rode down to Renna's tournament game; another lovely morning.  Her 4th (I missed the two Saturday games being in Nashua) and final of the season.  In very appropriate fashion, they went out in a cloud of drama, the theme of the team.  It's beyond comprehension, but this game included one of our (problem) players tomahawking a kid on the other team, the other team's coach screaming and swearing at the refs, that coach getting ejected from the game, a ref in tears, and parents arguing amongst each other.  What a display!  We lost, so we're done with games.  Hallelujah!

My bookends.

These two served at church all morning as they do so faithfully every single week.

It finally worked for us to get to one of Gianna's basketball games.  They won, but the real entertainment was Sienna during halftime and after the game.  She was making half court shots facing away from the net and throwing balls backwards over her head.  I bet she made at least 25 shots and all but two hit the backboard.  It was unbelievable and the entire crowd was willing one to drop in.  It was like some secret hidden talent.

After, Jon and Annie hosted a mini hockey party with just a handful of the families.

And to close the week out, a couple of old ones:

Preaching his first Fine Arts speech way back when: