Monday, May 5th
No new pic, but Lisa shared a memory with me. Man oh man do Colombo and I miss Crossfit- the gym and the people.
A much-anticipated day to celebrate Kiki's 70th! We found the perfect private room at a centrally located restaurant to all involved.
Surprise!
We decided to keep it to the girls and hosted a little luncheon the day before her actual birthday.
She was very moved by our effort and words of love poured out. As I wrote in my letter to her (stolen from a Pastor who prayed at a friend's 80th), "It's easy to celebrate people who celebrate people."
For 24 years now she has been wildly interested in all of us, prays consistently for our families, eagerly signs up for any babysitting gigs, supports us all, loves Pop, and is so intentional to stay up-to-date with all the kids, even as they grow into adults with lives.
Pop returned to pick her up and was just in time to be involved with the cake and a few of the photo memories, which, in true form, he remembered with great detail!
Very early that morning, Colombo flew out to Orlando for a business meeting. He had a 2400 square foot, 4-BR condo- all paid for- all to himself at the latest and greatest resort, the Evermore. It's unreal! I would have loved to have gone, but we'd already had the party on the calendar. A week or so before he left, I suggested he let the FL fam know he'd be there. With short notice, and on a regular Tuesday midday (with work and school!!) they all rallied and cleared their calendars. I was so moved by their effort to spend a couple quick hours with him!
In the afternoon we did Harlem and tennis.
The East Windsor youth pastor resigned from Crossroads, ironically to take Mason's old youth director position in Agawam!!! We were sad to see Pastor Jonny go, but know that he'll do a wonderful work at Bethany. This was his last night at Midweek, so parents were invited. For three years, Pastor Jonny has faithfully worked to build this group from a small group Bible study to a thriving youth group. He was so good with the kids, came to their games, took them to breakfast, hosted the extra get-togethers, and genuinely just loved on them and discipled them. He will be missed!
The students had an opportunity to share their hearts and words of gratitude. Jonny cried through much of it, truly touched.
Another prom, this time for Amanda and Jason!
And then they prayed over him.
Thursday, May 8th
Colombo's last day in FL-- Matt's fam used the resort amenities while Colombo did another day of meetings.
Rocco played a 2 1/2 hour match that went into a superset and then deuce after deuce after deuce. Every rally was a nail biter and then, with two entire teams watching and cheering, Rocco had a diving finish that clinched the W.
Some of us rendezvoused for some Chick, Colombo coming straight from the airport.
Friday, May 9th
I ran over to see Gabby all done up for her prom. She looked stunning!
Also notable, Maddy, Mason, and Ezra came to stay with us for a week and a half. It was a little tight, but everyone was flexible and we made it work! What a gift of TIME! ...and so many shoes in the shoe pile which makes my heart happy!
Saturday, May 10th
Tradition! Off to the Farmer's Market for flowers. This year, we had muscles to help!
Sunday, May 11th
It was an early morning! We were up and out by 8am to get to Gample to meet up with Tina to save seats. I was teary most of the way there for many reasons. Mother's Day (very layered!!!), Fan Man graduating, time just marches on so irreverently and I feel like the last 4 years have served up more changes and milestones than I can keep up with! Soon, C4 and Kelly and the Rambos joined us. Rocco had spent the night at the Cours since we didn't have enough tickets. He was happy to sleep later, watch the livestream, and help Aiden set up tables.
Lisa snapped this sitting through the livestream.
Me and 1/6 of the crew!
The speakers were short and sweet. The senior who was chosen to speak wished all the moms a Happy Mother's Day, including his own who he had not told til that moment that he'd be speaking. The commencement speaker was an alumni and business owner with college-aged kids, so what she had to say and the advice she gave was relevant, practical, and inspiring. And then we sat through 1.5 HOURS of name after name after name. Nathanael was about 30 minutes in.
Click here to watch my vantage point facing the floor.
Click here to watch Colombo's vantage point facing the screen.
Click here to watch C4's unfortunate footage- after waiting for a SOLID two hours, the people next to us got up to leave even though they knew we were very soon.
Also unfortunate...Nathanael did the day without a tassel. Miscommunication at the bookstore / this is what happens when you wait til the last minute / students in charge......anyway, sadly, no tassel pix!
I asked for one by myself since it was Mother's Day.
My 3 UConn grads!
From there, we drove to the halfway point home which just happens to be the Cours. Lisa pushed hard to host something at her house. I kept pushing back for these reasons: I didn't want her doing any work, it was Mother's Day and I didn't want to take people's special day away, I was May-evented out, it was 6 days before Avery's wedding, and I wanted to truly honor Nathanael in a special way (but his friends are also maxed out with 3 wedding in 5 weeks!!)
In the end, she convinced me. I did all of the food and flowers, I put a hard end-time so people could feel they could move on to do Mother's Day things, we only invited family (and Tina's parents), and I tried to keep it very simple. We were blessed with a beautiful day and all the moms got to see their kids and kids got to see their moms. It worked. I'm glad we did it and though I think we will still try to do another thing for Fan to mark the milestone, he was honored by the effort everyone made and cards!
I was so touched that-just like for the last 30 years- Lisa did what she could to team up with me for the day. We've done a TON of events and holidays side-by-side. Her mobility has been incredibly limiting, but she still left her mark on the day, surprising me by sprinkling 'through-the-years' pix of my boy throughout the house. It filled my heart.
Me and 5/6 of the crew!
After we cleaned up, got home, and regrouped, the 4 of us went to dinner at Market Grille to catch the sunset on a beautiful night. Felt a bit bamboozled by their small and pricey pre fixe menu, but we stayed the course. The kids cards and words had me in tears for the second time (or fourth) time of the day!
My arrangement from C4 and my arrangement from C3 were twins!!! (and the less inexpensive one lasted 3x as long as the one from the florist)
