Well, here she is, Columbia Christian Academy. I graduated from here, formerly CMA, Columbia Military Academy. I went to the school the first year it opened as a Christian school. It was a truly wonderful experience, for the most part. I loved the fact that it was small and there were few of us. I only had 14 in my graduating class.
So we were back on campus and to see my niece graduate. Mom was determined to go and I wasn’t sure we’d be invited, but we were. I am thankful and grateful to my sister for sending us an invitation. Not only did she send the invitation, she saved us seats, gave us directions, and even told us where to let Mom out that would be easy for her to walk. My heart is full. She followed up by text and thanked us for coming. We were all so glad to see Kadon and Ella again. I wish we had been able to see them all these past few years as they have grown. Kadon, quite literally has grown up! I guess it’s the first time my Mom and Kerrie have spoken in years. So it warms my heart. At least it is a start. With Mom being increasingly immobile as each day passes, and the situation at hand, I’m not sure how much time there will be for words to be had between them in the future. It will remain to be seen the efforts that are made or not, but at least Mom had some closure today to see her grandkids again.
The day was probably more than Mom was up for, but she was determined to be there. It was 85 degrees in the sun, during most of the ceremony. But it was within the 10 to 11:15 a.m. time frame, so it could have been worse if it was in the afternoon. There were slight breezes and sometimes a cloud would come over. It was doable for me but there was a couple of times I wondered myself if we needed to get up and stand under a tree. If Mom had written the ceremony it would have been indoors, no one speaking, and rush of names with no credentials or future college and career mentions, but sprinting up and getting diploma and rushing back to seat. It was really more than she could bare but she suffered through it and reminded us of it several times how shocked she was about how long it took with the “long winded speakers” and the “hot sun ceremony” as we headed home. I knew that would happen. I knew all along what she was in for. But I thought she knew what graduations were like. I reminded her these kids have all worked hard for their moment to shine, let them have it. Perhaps Mom is right, they might need a grandparent version of a graduation though, lol. Bottom line. She went, she wanted to go, and while she was put out about the outdoor ceremony and its length, she was overjoyed to see her grandkids. And it really was a beautiful day. I think you can see it in the pictures. I think the Vitamin D soak up did me some good.
Her hat fell off when one of the professors leaned in for a hug. lol. Look how tall Kadon is. It was a joy to see them. I’ve missed them so much. My heart hurts that we have not been able to see them much through the years.
Mom is happy. I think everyone was. Afterwards, Mom had arranged for Barbara, her friend, to meet us for lunch in Columbia at Applebee’s. We had a nice lunch and then headed toward home. I noticed how pretty West 7th street was with its lamp posts and straight shot to the court house.
George and I stopped at Animal Control in Nashville as they were having an adoption weekend. Probably the worst time to go as any small dogs would have gone first. And true, there were only big dogs left, some of them very scary and we were told not to put our fingers in the cages. There was one dog that was sweet and wagged tail but he was a puppy and already big. He’s not what we need. I can’t have a dog that will drag me down the street. I want a lap dog. Twenty five lbs or under – preferably less than 20 and one that I can pick up if needed.
Then we took Mom to the grocery, gathered a few of our own groceries and took the chance on a hot day that it would be ok until we could get her and the groceries dropped off and get home and get our own put up, but I just didn’t want to have to go back to the store. It’s hard to get my groceries and Mom’s at the same time. She needs help, but we kinda tag team it. George was with me. The smaller the store the better. I’m hoping to go to the store less as I do this Hello Fresh thing. I’m ordering from Target, Amazon, and Hello Fresh and then will hopefully in the future only have to stop for fresh ingredients. The Farmer’s Market will be opening soon.
Fur Baby hunt.
Received an email back about Monkey saying that she wasn’t adopted by another family and they would check our references and schedule a home visit with us. That was Saturday morning. Her adoption has been taken down off the website. I don’t know if it was because of me or if someone else adopted. Usually they say “pending”. This is the one that gets sick in the car and has nervous peeing. But I’m in love with that face that needs love in return. God is in control so I’m not sure what will happen.
There was this one, that I loved because of her permanent smile. Her name is Mimi and I’ve not heard back from this one. I hope she is not older than we are looking for. But look at that face!
Even if I can’t have either of these I will be ok. But I will be forever grateful to Monkey as she started me looking. So we have a bond no one can take away even though she has never met me, nor me her. Somehow our spirits still connected so I will hold on to that. I will be strong until the Lord provides.
On the Mend and Taking an Extra Day to Rest
I’ve been a little slow to come back from the colonoscopy. I think I know why. I didn’t get to take my supplements last week so I’m probably low on D and B complex. Also it takes a while for your stomach to rebound from the trauma.
My exercise was to start this morning and guess what! It did. I chose a 10 minute low impact though for this week. It includes stretching, light cardio, and balance. I started to do it twice but decided 10 minutes was probably good for today. It was kinda hard to get up and do it. But I did it. So tomorrow will be easier. And as the week goes on, I will pick longer versions – at least 20 minutes for a while. Putting it first, everything else will just shake out where it will.
Sunday, I took the day off. Bouncing into Saturday’s full and busy day was a little more than my body was up for, but I pushed through. I needed yesterday to be a down day. I still had laundry to finish and light housekeeping, but mainly had a restful low energy day getting ready for the work week, ironing, refilling vitamin case, changing my sheets, cleaning kitchen. I worked on video a lot, editing where we fixed beef bourguignon. That will be coming out soon.
I’ve decided to schedule my videos for Saturday mornings at 7:00 a.m. While it may not be EVERY week, it’ll at least be a regularly scheduled upload time when there is one. So whenever I’m through with one, I’ll schedule it for the upcoming Saturday, regardless! I made good progress and hopefully can finish for upload this Saturday, but I’m not pushing myself. I DO feel this is a good decision though and not sure why I didn’t think of it before. Maybe eventually I can get to where I get a little caught up in the videos.
I enjoyed working the puzzle during moments when my mind was just not up to par to be creative. I really didn’t want to think about anything Thurs and Fri and even Saturday. Yesterday my mind was gearing up a bit and better. Every day it’s better the further I get away from the meds for the colonoscopy prep and get more of my supplements and nutrients back in my body. The day did my soul, body, and mind some good.
What will this week bring?
Hmmm…well for starters, the work week will go off with a bang. I have to take Mom to get her eye injection this morning. So off to Lebanon, then to Hendersonville, back to Lebanon to drop her off and then off to Antioch to work and then back home to Mount Juliet. After being off Thursday and Friday, and late coming in today, I will probably have to work late to get what I need done to be organized for payroll. Then I’m supposed to cook tonight because George is working in the yard. And Hello Fresh is to arrive today but not sure if it will be here in time. Delivery says by 8 pm. Heck, that might even be when I get started, lol.
- Cancelling Comcast cable
- Working on the Bucket List for Summer
- Finishing up a Couple of Bucket List Items for Spring
- Order some things from LTD
- Work on Video
- Sign in to old blog website and email so I don’t lose it
- Plan Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken visit (Mom grocery run, what restaurants, have a meal here?)
- Research on fish oil/salmon oil as I’ll start to take it
- Read “The Best of” for Mount Juliet
- Work on the puzzle. :-).
- Read some 🙂
- Blog some 🙂
- Schedule my Drivers Lic update for the REAL ID
- Get my Birth Certificate (George has locked away but need it for the REAL ID)
- Continue to find a dog and check for updates
- Make GYN appt for check up
- Car wash
- Jewelry Project (getting rid of unwanted items, polishing silver earrings that have tarnished, and organizing it, and ordering a couple of pieces – we are talking costume jewelry here – that I have a need for).
That is probably enough for this week. lol. It won’t get all done but maybe a little bit of everything will get touched in some way. I’ll be back mid week at some point with updates.
What all you got going on this week? I love to hear your “to do” lists too.
It makes my day when I hear from you…