An intense weekend

Annnnd the very choppy blogging schedule continues. Sigh.

The week has been basically a continuation of previous recent weeks. I will not lie and say this post-Hawaii summer has been my most awesome summer.

But, nothing is overtly horrible (at all!), either, and I also cannot exactly figure out how to express my discontent without sounding like a big, annoying whiner. Because overall, my problems are not Problems. Thank God! But I’ll just say the complicated extended family drama situation marches on, work continues to be…. ahem, work, and things have felt generally very “bumpy” and tumultuous (as in, no two days are really the same and I can’t quite grasp any real routine which makes me feel like I’m floundering most days and my there always seems to be a lot of people in my house.). Did I mention my mother-in-law is also in town now until September? 🙃

Anyway, all is well!! We are healthy, kids are happy, Ethan’s driving is so-far-so-good, Asher has been busy with summer swim + LOVING all the new preseason high school volleyball activities and he and a friend have been fishing maniacs.

But I also have been having this image flash through my mind fairly often lately:

The little cabin Ethan and I rented in Upper Michigan last fall.

Ahhhh. I have been tempted to see if there are any openings upcoming in August for a couple nights and sneak away, BY MYSELF this time.

I just want to curl up on this bed and look out at the trees and not talk to anyone, or be talked to, for like, 2 days. At least. Hahahaha.

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Backing up!

🔷 Last Friday I had the good fortune of being part of the IT implosion… meaning that when I got down to my computer Friday morning, I found this:

On the plus side, it took a while to even get through to anyone from our hospital Help Desk (at first they were so overwhelmed with calls that they put a recording up that literally said, “Due to extremely high call volumes, we cannot take your call at this time. Goodbye.” Oh! Ok. Um, goodbye to you, too! Does this mean I get the day off??? 🤔)

I texted my boss, who fortunately was having similar issues and also couldn’t get through to the Help Desk (although a majority of our team had no issues at all! So weird.). So I took Charlie for a long walk, took a shower, and drank a cup of tea on the deck. Hey, it wasn’t all bad.

Finally I did get in touch with IT and they directed me where to bring my laptop in to get fixed. That all ate up basically the whole morning, which meant that I had kind of a lot to do in the afternoon and ended up working late. Was just a weird day!

So Friday night felt like a margarita night.

🔷 Saturday morning Asher and I packed up and headed for Milwaukee. He had his Regionals swim meet all weekend in Brown Deer.

This meet is basically a “swim or die” meet in that if you don’t qualify for State (or already have State cuts), your season ends here. Asher did not have any State cuts yet, but was within about 1/2 second his 50 freestyle and was hoping to qualify.

That in and of itself is kind of stressful (for him, and also for me to watch). While cognitively we both realize that it’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t achieve the time standard, and making State at age 14 or not will ultimately have no long-term bearing on his overall success in life (or even his long-term “swim career”), it feels like a Really Big Deal.

I’ve talked about this before, I’m sure. But the State kids get a special t-shirt with their names on it, they get special “State Team” swim caps, and, of course, they get to continue on and attend the big State meet. (There’s one in winter, and one in summer.) Basically, it amounts to glorified bragging rights and is just an exciting honor to qualify. (In his case, it’s not like he’s going to “win” State even if he qualifies, so at this point it’s more about the journey of just making it there.)

Anyway! Long story short, he was close on a State qualifying time, and was going to attempt to get it at this meet.

The 50 meter freestyle race Saturday was his second event, and he swam it in 29.06 seconds. The state cut time? 28.99.

😩😩

0.07 seconds off?!?! Ughhhh.

He then had a couple other events, with his final event being the 400 freestyle. After discussion with his coach, they decided he would sprint the first 50 meters of this race (1 length in the 50m Olympic pool) and do another attempt at the cut time. (Obviously kind of blowing the rest of the 400 since all out sprinting the first 50 is not great pacing strategy, but oh well. 😆 His main goal was the 50 free cut.)

He sprinted out and touched the wall in 29.11 this time. UGH again. (Then after checking the clock he had to turn and keep swimming the other 350 meters, disappointed….).

That was it for Day 1. The whole thing felt stressful to me, and then on top of it, his good swim friend who was also close on the 50 free did get the cut! So that’s always one of those awkward like, “Oh, I’m really happy for you! But also, now I’m extra pissed that I didn’t and this kind of rubs salt in the wound…..” situations.

Saturday night we went out for pizza with my parents and then Asher wanted to go fishing at the park near their house. My mom and dad sat with him while I walked 2 miles in the park. After the pretty high intensity day, I opted to listen to music and this was really great.

Sunday we were back at the pool, this time with my parents along.

Asher had another shot at the 50 free, this time as the lead off swimmer of the 200 freestyle relay. Luckily his coach put him in that lead off spot (since only the first swim off the buzzer would count as an individual time).

He seemed pretty down/ negative on the way to the pool and to be honest, I was not feeling overly optimistic for him….

But, guess what?! He did it! 28.97. Hahaha! By the skin of his teeth, but he did it!!

When I looked up and saw the “28” in front I was like, PHEW!!! What a relief!! Finally. Third time’s the charm.

He was really happy. 🙂 Mission accomplished! 🙂

I’ve also talked about this before, but those 13-14 boy times get way faster than the 11-12 time standards. Presumably because they assume 13-14 year old boys’ bodies are kicking it into high gear development-wise. But, as you can see, Asher is just now starting to hit any sort of growth spurt. So I feel like the fact that he got the State cut in his pretty tiny, more child-like (yet) body is really something!! A majority of the boys he’s competing against are a full head+ taller and are in men’s bodies….

So, he’s off at the State Championship team practice this morning and looking forward to competing again the first weekend in August. Yay Asher!!

Sunday night Asher and I headed home. It was a nice weekend away (we stayed at my parents’ house), but also kind of intense. By Monday morning I was wishing I could have had one more day off to regroup before the week….

Oh, and check out this funny pic I saw at my parents’ house:

Yours truly, in 10th grade, heading to my own McDonald’s shift…. hahaha!

Well, I guess I only got through the weekend and it’s time to go pick up Asher. Nothing much else to report from this week, anyway.

Here’s another funny pic, in closing:

I was trying to do a Yoga with Adrienne video last night in my office. Charlie wanted to come in, but I didn’t want him to because he thinks yoga= play time. So he just sat outside like a total creeper. 🤣🤣

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful that Asher has had lots of fun volleyball opportunities this summer! He’s been really enjoying this pre-season stuff. Monday night they had a scrimmage vs another high school. I got to watch. I’m excited for more volleyball this fall!