The Beach, Shark Teeth and Reading in Bed

My friend's mom died today...cancer...an easy peaceful death. She had a good life. Yet, my mother-in-law, who is much older, still lingers, hanging on with the horrid Alzheimers that takes away all dignity and life's memories. So.....rather than dwell on loss and regret, I take my boys to the beach. We packed the car full of beach toys and snacks. Along the way, I practice this week's spelling word list with my kiddo. I figure that we could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

The boys played in the sand, let the waves wash over them and looked for shells. I started a new book and read while keeping an eye on the kiddos. It was a lovely few hours listening to the wind, watching the waves and letting the kiddos get tired!

We noticed a bunch of little dead fish and other fishheads that had floated to the beach. One was a little shark head and, of course, my second-grader made a beeline to it to check it out. Of course we looked it over and examined the rows of teeth!

The boys had a wonderful time and got along really well together. Because we were so tired, we got home, took our showers/baths, ate a little and went to bed (well, the kids did, I stayed up and watched mindless tv.) The car is still packed with beach stuff and I will unpack tomorrow.



















I checked on my 'lil one about an hour after the kiddos had gone to bed. Apparently, he got a surge of energy before passing out. I can see that he 'read' lots of books and then arranged them in rows on the floor. He has always loved books and looking at them, even as a baby. I can always tell which ones he's looked at (there's a huge bookshelf on the other side of the room with many shelves of books so there is an ample supply in there. Since he's the fourth kid, the accumulated books over the years end up on the shelves in his room. He's going to be really tired tomorrow!

Only boys left -

My youngest daughter, who is 21, moved out of our home a few weeks ago into her own apartment. She had been dreaming about it for a long time and, truth be told, so had we! I had visions of how to repaint and redecorate her room! We at one time thought about moving one of our sons into her bedroom (as it's a large sized one.) Right now, our younger son is in a room that size (along with most of their toys) and our older son has a very small room. But...as the idea progressed into a plan and then we were told of the date she'd leave, we thought we'd leave everything ...as is. We're just going to leave it empty a little while...you never know.

I miss her. I don't miss certain things about her behavior or attitude but I bet most moms feel that way about each of their kiddos. I miss her presence. It was nice knowing that someone else was around in case I needed to leave in the middle of the night (very rare) or to sign for a package (around holiday season.) She is the kind of kid who is very private, doesn't ask for much and wants to be independent (to a point.) She is great at telling you how it is (without being politically correct.) There were times I wish I were as brave so that I could say what I was feeling instead of what I thought I 'should' say (to whomever.) I love that she will discover how much it costs to buy dishwashing or washing detergent, how much difference it makes to reduce (or raise) the temperature in your place, or how difficult it is to shop/cook/eat for one. I long to have the relationship with her where I'm not being the nagging mom but rather where we can communicate as adults who like and appreciate each other.

I searched in my latest pictures from my camera for a recent picture of her. She tends to shy away from the camera or refuse to be photographed. But she will post pics on her own FB page (that passes her test, I guess.) So, I snatched a couple to post.

Here's to new beginnings!



And, of course, one of those new apartments everyone seems to have at least once in their lives.