April and Adam’s birthday

Summer is racing past me in a thrilling whirl of activity.  I’d pretty much decided to delete all the blog posts ruminating in the left hemisphere of my cerebral cortex and then I heard that xanga (my old blog host) was shutting down in July.  Suddenly I realized just how much I valued that online journal of sorts, especially with its pictures and stories of the boys.  I stayed up until way too late early in the morning to import old blog posts into this one and thankfully, most of them obliged with an automatic converter.  The rest are waiting for a few free hours to be copy and pasted manually if I can find the patience.  But in that second, I realized just how much I would wish that I’d have drummed out a few posts of the summer via keyboard.  Living fully is amazing.  Reminiscing the memories is priceless and since my scrapbooking is hanging out with the dust bunnies in the basement …….. this will have to do.

The biggest events of April chased each other like train cars down a railroad.  David and I photographed a wedding in Abbeville, SC.  We made the long trek South on Friday (have we ever moved North or what?) and scouted out locations before finally arriving at our friend’s house.  While I get a near adrenalin high out of shooting weddings, the best part of the weekend was the fact that our super good friends lived only twenty minutes away and we got to spend the rest of the time with them.  I had visions of a visit to the park where the azaleas would be in full bloom, visiting their church where Heather and I would sit and whisper the way sisters do (even though we’re not) because I miss that growing up in a girl’s family fun phenomenon, and just hanging out.  The hanging out part was phenomenal.  Jonathan and Heather just moved into a brand new house with a clean, modern style.  It was beautiful, but even more, the simple lines felt so restful to my completely exhausted brain.  We were days from finishing school and I was mentally fried.

Saturday morning David and I left for the wedding and the boys stayed to play with their friends.  Adam had just gotten over a mean GI virus that erupted North and South and left him flat on the couch with fever for two days.  The worst of it was done by Tuesday, but the diarrhea didn’t clear up completely until the day before we left for South Carolina.  I’d held my breath all week, but Liam escaped.  Until.  We were halfway through the ceremony and I got a text from Heather.  Liam was mercilessly ill.  Fever. Vomiting.  Diarrhea.  And just limp.  I felt horrible to have brought that nasty virus to their house unwittingly and even worse that she was having to clean up the mess.  But at the same time, I was unendingly grateful to be at her house because I knew she would take care of him just like I would.  I’ll spare you details, but lets just say the weekend went a little differently than planned.  Thankfully the worst of it only lasted a few hours and then he was back to playing and racing for the bathroom every time he dared to put a bite of food in his mouth.

Jonathan took the well kids to play mini golf while Heather stayed home with Liam.  There were no azalea gazing park trips and Liam and I hung out at home on Sunday doing laundry and playing games while the rest of the crowd went to church.  But even that couldn’t begin to spoil our time with them.  There are few things in life so powerful as soul friends …….. people who share your vision and who can see right into your heart.  Who share their stories and listen to yours.

The boys and I left for David’s Mom and Dad’s place in Virginia on Monday with a barf bucket lined with plastic bags in tow and a pull up on Liam.  I wasn’t exactly excited about the eight hour trek in the first place, but doing it with the threat of vomiting and diarrhea certainly didn’t boost my eagerness.  I think I got prayed the entire way through.  Liam had a few moments of terrible stomach pain, but each time, they subsided without eruption.  And every time he had diarrhea, we were close enough to an exit to actually make it in time.  David stayed behind and hitched a ride with staff from the boy’s camp in South Carolina to take in a work-related meeting at the boy’s camp in North Carolina.  Meanwhile, Adam joined his old schoolmates to take achievement tests.  Liam and I hung out with David’s parents and his mom graciously babysat while I had two lunch dates with friends and a visit with a third at her house.  Those hours were priceless gifts.  Like I said, soul friends …… oh right, this is getting redundant.

Adam’s birthday happened on Tuesday.  Since David wasn’t with us I’d decided to celebrate when we got back home.  Instead, he celebrated three times!  His grandma made barbecued meatballs for supper because it’s one of his favorites and we ate cupcakes from Chandlers in his honor.  Wednesday after school we went to my mom’s house where David would get dropped off and join us for the last three hours home.  Mom had called Adam before we left our house originally to see what Adam  wanted to eat for his birthday.  “Well,” he said, “it’s pretty expensive!  I mean, it’s not as expensive as going out to eat, but it is pretty expensive.  You don’t have to make it if it’s too much money.”  I couldn’t hear her side of the conversation, but apparently she kept asking what it was because finally he announced.  “It’s salmon.  But it’s not the farm-raised stuff.  It’s the wild-caught.”  I was around the corner, silently guffawing.  David says I’ve trained him well.

Co-incidentally, both Mom’s sisters came to visit her the day we arrived.  They heard it was Adam’s birthday and collected party supplies galore.  When I arrived, the table was decked out with a darling little birthday cake in the center thanks to my dad.  Adam got his wish.  We had salmon for dinner.

The evening was one of those late Spring early Summer evenings where the sun sets in glorious red splendor, the grass is vibrant green, and kids run happily around in the yard while grown ups take pictures.  Pretty much perfection.  It was also one of those evenings when Atlanta and Christy shouldn’t be quite so far away.

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