August

 

Want to know why I'm so excited today? I just booked my hotel room up near the ceremony site for the night before the wedding and that makes everything seem VERY real.

Christopher doesn't want to see me the day of the wedding so I'm going to greet all of our family that will be arriving on that Friday and then somehow get myself up an hour away to spend a quiet evening contemplating the big step I'm about to take. There's an Applebees on property so I might even throw myself a little one person bachelorette party there and treat myself to an adult beverage or I could get really wild and go to the 7-11 to overindulge in Slurpees!

August has been super-dooper awesome for me, I must say. First my friend Zoie came down from West Virginia with 3 of her 4 kids and we met up at Sea World. We haven't seen each other in a little over 2 years, right before COVID hit and so many things have changed in my life since then. Zoie was in Florida a little over a month after Taz died and she included me in all of her plans. I would meet her and the kids at the theme park and hang out with them all day until I just ran out of energy (I had little reserves back then) and she didn't make a big deal when I said I needed to leave, just welcomed me back the next day; it was exactly what I needed at the time.

A few days after the Sea World visit, we met up again at the beach and this time I had Christopher and the kids in tow so that everybody could meet. Now y'all know I LOVE the beach and I hadn't been in forever so I woke up that morning and was so happy that I made up a little song - for the first time in forever, I am going to the beach. for the first time in forever, the waves are just within my reach. Christopher laughed at me but also said it was nice to see me so happy. We did the beach all morning and then played at her hotel's pool all afternoon. BEST DAY!

Finally the summer came to an end and it was THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL and I'd been waiting for that for so long.

Now some people, like my friend Zoie, prefer the informality of summer because her kids are old enough to leave at home when she goes off to work so she doesn't have to fight with them to get up and dressed in a timely manner. I totally get that but my situation is different. My kids are not old enough (or responsible enough) to leave at home even for a short trip to the grocery store much less all day so I'm stuck in the house with them while I'm working and it makes me feel trapped. I feel bad for them for having a boring summer because I have to work all day (although to be fair they are perfectly happy playing on their tablets) and I feel bad for me. It's too much trouble to take them to run out to the grocery store or get something for lunch so I sit in the bedroom working all day so that they can have the run of the house and I can have relative quiet. Which makes the first day of school a freaking holiday as far as I'm concerned. It was blissful to drive them to school and then come back to my quiet, empty house where I could go back to working in the living room and could go get myself a snack in the middle of the day without anybody knowing and asking for part of it.

Then, just this past weekend, more friends came to the area whom I hadn't seen in over 4 years. These friends live in England and Taz and I met them 16 years ago when they eloped in Orlando and he photographed their wedding then we lost touch for 10 years and reconnected on Facebook and have been close ever since. This was their first time back in the area since Taz died so we had a lot of catching up to do although I must say that they were some of the most supportive people in my life after Taz died. Even though they were thousands of miles away, they let me know in so many ways that they were thinking of me often. 

It was wonderful to finally see them again and to introduce my new family to them. We had a fun day together enjoying the pool at their resort - the kids had the best time swimming and, quite frankly, so did I. We ended the day having dinner together and I couldn't have been happier. The best part is that I'll get to see them again when we get together for lunch one day when I'm up in Orlando working and I'll get to deliver their wedding invitation in person. I know it's a long way to come back for just a wedding but they're going to try and that means the world to me.

Speaking of the wedding, the invitations to the intimate ceremony portion of the day have gone out so I told Christopher his fate had been sealed - no backing out now! They went in the mail over a week ago and nobody has contacted me to let me know they received them so that makes me a little anxious but maybe the mail is just slow.

Last weekend we visited a couple of different stores to pick up decor for the wedding including these great plates and platters for the food. I figure people can take their plates home with them if they want but if they leave them, we'll use them over again for the Halloween party we're probably going to throw each year. When I said that to Chris he got a big grin on his face because he loves throwing parties but knows that I don't so he knew that telling him I was ok with a party every year was a gift from me to him.

For my part, I am resigned to this year's party/reception but slowly working my way to excited. Chris has done a lot of work in our yard, cleaning it up to be ready for October. Our house had been abandoned for several years before we moved in and previous people had left mountains of trash in the yard that we had to remove as well as weeds that were practically higher than my head. The place had rickety front stairs where you took your life in your hands just to get in the front door and no stairs at all out the back door, just a fatal death drop to the ground. Chris has spent hours fixing things up, building us a huge front porch and a small back porch for me to relax and read as well as getting a lot of the trash hauled off. Dealing with the weeds is a constant battle but he's out there with his mower taking care of it. His most recent project is starting to fence the yard in and it's already looking a lot nicer. I know it'll be nice for the party even if it's not exactly looking the way he would like it to be. There isn't time to put down sod but if the weeds are freshly mowed it will look just fine, especially with the creepy fog from the fog machines. I want it to be a blend of spooky and elegant.

So that's my August update - great month, lots to look forward to and get ready for!