Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Nope. Not Even an Apology.

Life! A little town, a little shop, a little farm, a small family, and it all adds up to A Whole Lot.

Sitting in the window lunch counter at the BTC right now, listening to a transplant from New Hampshire show her niece around and some ladies eat cake and drink sweet tea behind me while the new girl busts her bottom to keep the store the way it should be. She's not a naturally gifted shop girl but she makes up for it with heart.

I've got twenty minutes before I pick up Annaliese and Caspian from after-school chess. Today's mishap? My tire is flat, stone-cold empty. Good thing I can leave it downtown indefinitely until it can get dealt with. Yesterday's tragedy? Water pouring through the ceiling from a broken pipe in the upstairs restroom of K's coding academy. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. A decade into life here and I've stopped trying to anticipate the ups and downs. All I know is they will keep coming.

Tonight? I have to figure out what to feed my family for supper. I skipped my dawn exercise routine so I'd feel better if I did it before bed. We spent three hours at the local soccer fields last night for the kids' first fall games so it'll be sweet to spend the evening at home.

Soccer. Lord have mercy. Caspian tore the field up, was everywhere all at once, yet managed not to score. He played very well, though, despite the sudden onset of cockiness. Apparently this is a second-grade thing? A normal subdued buddy was beating his chest like an angry gorilla in the goal last night. Hubris is catching :)

Annaliese, on the other hand, did not tear the field up as much as smell it up. For a naturally athletic kid who effortlessly reaches the ball first, she sure doesn't do much when she gets there. She pleaded to play goalie the last quarter, then lost her team the game by letting four goals in. Hands on her hips. Mind clearly elsewhere. Talk about phoning it in.

Good thing I love her anyway.

Twelve minutes. Better go transfer the things I carry around in the station wagon for the school garden into the truck. The school planters need watering, and I've got to get the squash bugs under control.

Happy life!