It’s another glorious fall! The trees are changing colors and the smell of dead leaves rises like incense from the parking lot. We’ve been at parks twice this week. The summers here in Texas are too and the winters just cold enough to be uncomfortable, but the two weeks in between are wonderful.
I’m sitting at the computer sipping my chocolate vegan protein shake feeling happy. Today is a rare day off because all of the upper and middle school students are taking an eight-mile hike up the Trinity River to the school. They can’t possibly be back until the afternoon, so all the morning classes have been canceled. Whoo Hoo!
It was a lovely morning. I came downstairs in my nightgown after waking Xenia up and found Justin in the music room wearing a fancy suit.
“Can you make scones like you promised last night?” he asked.
“Is that what you’re wearing to school,” I countered.
“It’s free dress day, Mom.”
“Ah.”
“It’s free dress day for teachers too.”
“But I always wear the same thing every day,” I told him, thinking of my jean skirts, long-sleeved shirts, and headscarves.
“It’s free dress day. You should be free!”
After I finished laughing, I asked, “Justin, what would it look like to you if I were free?”
He told me, “You should wear your beautiful green dress.”
I made Justin his pan of scones and went to get dressed. I told Mike the story of Justin wanting me to be free.
He wasn’t surprised that Justin wanted me to wear the green dress, and said, “Mary would do that with you.” My friend Mary who teaches third and fourth grade would totally wear a fancy dress on free dress day. It’s too bad she’s home quarantining after her husband came down with Corona. He’s better, but a couple of her kids also tested positive, though asymptomatic. I won’t see them again until after Thanksgiving.
Mike took Jonah, Xenia, and Justin to school today while I drove Basil to the drop off at the Trinity River. Basil entertained me with jokes from the meme chat he has with his friends. He put on a British accent and made me smile and laugh the whole drive down to Dream Park. When we arrived, and he saw his friends piled on the merry-go-round, Basil almost jumped out of the moving car. I let him off at the parking lot with the teachers and watched him put his sack lunch into the hiking backpacks the school brought and run off to the playground. I saw double vision as the athletic man’s body bounded away with the joyful abandonment of the boy he once was. Yesterday I admired how happy my friend Stephanie’s two-year-old son looked as he raced across the playground with his little red wagon. As the kids grow older those moments grow fewer and far between, so I knew to cherish this morning with Basil. Nothing warms my mother’s heart more than seeing my children happy.
Basil’s birthday party is tonight. He’ll have the ninth grade boys over for pizza and brownies. His birthday present is a driving class which I’ll sign him up for today. I was so hesitant to have Basil driving. The thought of getting into the car with yet another teenager learning to drive is terrifying to me, but it’s all part of raising them. We were thinking of Basil when we replace our totaled minivan with a used minivan. I love my crossover and don’t want him practicing in my car. We also bought Sophia a car to take with her to college. Later today I’ll bring them into the insurance company to get them on the policy.
Sophia can almost bend her elbow enough to touch her shoulder. Her last pain pill was taken on Monday. Her boyfriend Anthony is still suffering from his concussion but has full use of his fractured hand though he should probably wear his brace longer. My next-door neighbor told me that a couple on our street was killed in a street racing accident. Anthony’s mom drove past that horrible crash and had to see the young driver that was also dead on the scene. We are so thankful that the kids had a minor accident and that we can all move on.
The semester is almost over. After running errands this morning, I’ll play a movie on my laptop and do the homework for the last two sections of pre-calculus for next week and finish writing the last tests for the year. Each of my classes will finish up their current chapter the week after Thanksgiving. Then we have a week of review followed up by a short final’s week.
Esther and Joshua will fly home the second weekend in December, a week earlier than expected since they won’t be taking Thanksgiving off. She’s thrilled that we’ll have a car for her to drive when she’s home. I’m looking forward to having my family all together again, celebrating the joyous Christmas festivities. The kids are working on their Christmas newsletters and I’ve got two days scheduled next week for baking baklava. There is so much to be thankful for and much to look forward to. Truly, today I am happy.
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