My sweet girl

The last few days have been busy....and as we get back to the routine, we've been away from home more,  Allie is going to have to get used to us not being around as much as we were in the summer.  So, I am going to go spend some quality time with my sweet girl tonight.

"The greatest fear dogs know is the fear that you will not come back when you go out the door without them."

~ Stanley Coren

My own personal superhero

The summer is over...and I am left to face the world with my own personal superhero.  He really is, though.  He baffles me and makes me laugh at the same time as I struggle to understand this alien being living in my home.  But his humor and wit and intelligence and creativity constantly amaze me.

The real battle of wits will fully begin Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. when I attempt to wake him up for school.  I will need the bravery of a superhero to do so...somehow, though I am certain it will be painful for both of us, we will make it through!

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I could freeze time...

On Thursdays I often see posts on facebook or instagram that are labeled #tbt or Throwback Thursday.

 Here is my throwback Thursday....My precious niece Elizabeth and Cara as flower girls.  I wish I could freeze time and somehow have these little ones back......if even for a short time.  Now they are both college graduates working full time jobs.  But I remember this day...and I remember these girls...and although I love the young women they have become, part of me wishes I could visit with these two little girls once again. One thing I do know is that I loved them then, I love them now...I will love them for always.

"It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you."

~ Roald Dahl

Wishing you were here...

Sometimes....your body is one place, and your heart in another.  Sometimes.....that is just how it has to be.  Sometimes......being apart from people we care about just seems like torture.  But we have to be so very grateful for those people and those times that make saying goodbye so tough....and all they have done to make our days worth living.  I truly believe that what is most important in life is the relationships and the love that we share!!  

And though we are apart tonight...those of us who created something beautiful together...we are indelibly engraved into each others hearts.  So we will remember all those happy times.  We will be thankful for the honor of crossing paths with remarkable people.....and we will know that goodbye doesn't mean forever. We will keep in touch...we will see each other....we will laugh, we will dance. Some of us may stay up all night, the rest of us will just go to sleep early....but we all got lucky....to have each other!!

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

~ A. A. Milne

School Days

I started my school year today and I'm already quite overwhelmed by the length of my to-do list.  I am thinking of my girls and how far they have come since the day a kindergartener and 3rd grader waited for the bus together.  That little kindergartener is now a sophomore in college and the 3rd grader just started grad school in Manhattan tonight.  So proud of them!!   And that is about all you are going to get out of me tonight...need my rest to welcome my amazing students tomorrow!!

"Kids don't remember what you try to teach them.  They remember what you are."

~ Jim Henson

Summer's End

I never welcome the end of summer.  Over the years summer has become my favorite season.  I don't mind the heat...especially since I am usually freezing the rest of the year.  There are so many things I love about summer....the more relaxed schedule, warmer climate, an abundance of light, vacations....wherever they may be, days at the beach.  It is a break from the usual routine of life.  A time where my spirits recharge and I am renewed and begin to find the parts of myself that somehow got lost through out the year.

As I look back on this summer, I am even more reluctant to bid it farewell.  It was a good summer and held so many people and experiences that I treasure and these memories will keep my spirits warm through the change of seasons...until we meet again....summer and I.  This summer was full of so many gifts to us.  I am so thankful for each one; a graduation, a visit to dear family, hot air balloons,  extended family bonding and accomplishment, new experiences, fresh starts,new and beloved friends, old and beloved friends, heroes, game nights, scavenger hunts, brownie bake offs, Fizzy Wizzbangs, staying up all night to get lucky....or not, tie-dye, the zoo, the beach, family time together, laughter, exhaustion, a full house, a drivers license, a new job and apartment, s'mores with friends (no matter how you pronounce it, always a good time), moving days, new beginnings.... My heart is full as I think of all the people that made our summer so amazing.

Today, as I wrote this, I sat here mourning the loss of it all, dreading the sound of my unwelcome alarm clock tomorrow morning at way too early an hour, regretting 2 week breaks without the break part included...  Outside there was heavy rain and loud thunder as if to echo the sentiments in my heart as I bid farewell to my summer. As my thoughts turned to the year ahead, amazingly the sun began to shine brightly.  I ran outside and sure enough there was a gorgeous rainbow, a perfect arc, too large to capture with my camera, resting right over our house.

I take that to be a sign, a promise.... that this year will be just as full of love and laughter and blessings as our summer....that the amazing people and the memories we made with them is just the beginning of  a wonderful year for all of us.

"Summertime is always the best of what might be."

~ Charles Bowden

Left Behind

After this weekend...full of moving Cara in to her first apartment, exploring her new surroundings, sitting with my knuckles white and my eyes shut as she drove me through the Bronx...and not because of her driving...because of the crazy way everyone else was driving, I feel that Cara's childhood is now officially a thing of the past.  She has left her childhood behind and now will be on the carousel ride that is adult life...getting into the routine...going round and round;  going to work, paying bills, keeping food on the table and life in some sort of order...  It is not easy...especially not in these times in which we live.

It may be an exciting time for her...but, I who have done all those adult things for far too long, hope she is able to carve out some time to keep in touch with her inner child, relax with one of her ever growing collection of disney movies, find friends to hang out with and enjoy life with.  I wish her balance.  I wish that amidst all the responsibilities and complexities of adult life...she is still able to find joy and love life.

"Grown ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets."

~Roald Dahl