Hope You're Having a Wonderful Winter Holiday or Break!
Good wishes to all who are reading this for your Winter holiday, whatever it is.
I'm sitting here by my Christmas tree with the presents under it and the stockings up and the cookie and milk that Jet set up on the hearth, out of the way of the actual fireplace so that Santa won't trip over it. It's good to see family traditions being upheld. The several inches of powdery perfect Colorado snow outside doesn't hurt the ambiance either.
I have a mug of hot chocolate and a nearly empty fridge as John and I are prepping for an adventure. We'll be driving a whole van of instruments for the Silver Creek High School Marching Band to Florida for them to use at the Outback Bowl's half time show. Luckily, another set of parents are going to be driving the van back, so we don't have to make the 2000 mile trip twice in a week...
I am grateful.
Jet is now sixteen and will pretty much be taking care of himself until the night before his band heads for the airport. One of his best friends is one of the two drum majors for the marching band and their parents are going to be the ones driving the van back, so Jet's going to stay with them the night before they have to wake up at 3 am to hit the airport. Best to not have a teenager responsible for getting himself out of bed at 3 am... and they'll get him to the high school bus that will get them to the airport on time.
Our church had a super simple Sunday service this morning, and a fancier Christmas Eve one where all three of us were ushers. John wearing his traditional Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and red and green socks; and Jet all in slender, well-pressed black button up shirt and slacks. Very presentable....
And between the services, John buzzed his hair down to his usual Number 2, and he helped me by cutting about 16 inches of hair off. *laughs* We braided it first, and rubber banded it, and it's now sitting in an envelope to be mailed to Locks For Love when we get back. As usual, my neck and head aches from the change in weight... but John evened it all out very nicely, and the natural curl frames my face pretty well. What with going to Florida and having waited nearly two years to donate again, I figured it was time.
I also signed up for a 100 words a day for 100 days with Catie Murphy after the beginning of the year, and figured it would be best used here. There have been a lot of things in my life in the last few years that have been confidential, so it's been harder to lay some things out here in this journal; but there are still things I need to write about, and I haven't done fiction in so long that it felt like it was time again.
We'll see how it turns out, but I'm hopeful again. I've been tending to my tendonitis and overuse problems and they seem to finally be getting better. I'll be bringing my arm weights with me and my exercise equipment, and I won't be bringing a machine capable of gaming. I'll try and see if I can update some of the insanity while I'm on the road.
The funny thing is that, yesterday, I got my badge for Season 23, the season when I was captain of the UGC TF2 team... and all the memories that brought back just made me realize how long it's been since I kept this journal up to date. And I had a friend who was in comp with me come back to play with me for an hour or so last night, he's now out of college and working and doesn't have even the time to play that much with anyone, much less even think of comp; but it was soooo good to just play and laugh and coordinate together again. I miss the old team, which can never come back again as the guys have moved onto jobs, family, a life on the most part or onto other teams. But someone asked me to be on their team, and I wasn't sure what to say, especially since they want it to not be a try-hard team but just a friend-team, so there wouldn't be the time commitment.
Still... don't really think I can go back...
And a whole new year to figure it out.
I'm sitting here by my Christmas tree with the presents under it and the stockings up and the cookie and milk that Jet set up on the hearth, out of the way of the actual fireplace so that Santa won't trip over it. It's good to see family traditions being upheld. The several inches of powdery perfect Colorado snow outside doesn't hurt the ambiance either.
I have a mug of hot chocolate and a nearly empty fridge as John and I are prepping for an adventure. We'll be driving a whole van of instruments for the Silver Creek High School Marching Band to Florida for them to use at the Outback Bowl's half time show. Luckily, another set of parents are going to be driving the van back, so we don't have to make the 2000 mile trip twice in a week...
I am grateful.
Jet is now sixteen and will pretty much be taking care of himself until the night before his band heads for the airport. One of his best friends is one of the two drum majors for the marching band and their parents are going to be the ones driving the van back, so Jet's going to stay with them the night before they have to wake up at 3 am to hit the airport. Best to not have a teenager responsible for getting himself out of bed at 3 am... and they'll get him to the high school bus that will get them to the airport on time.
Our church had a super simple Sunday service this morning, and a fancier Christmas Eve one where all three of us were ushers. John wearing his traditional Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and red and green socks; and Jet all in slender, well-pressed black button up shirt and slacks. Very presentable....
And between the services, John buzzed his hair down to his usual Number 2, and he helped me by cutting about 16 inches of hair off. *laughs* We braided it first, and rubber banded it, and it's now sitting in an envelope to be mailed to Locks For Love when we get back. As usual, my neck and head aches from the change in weight... but John evened it all out very nicely, and the natural curl frames my face pretty well. What with going to Florida and having waited nearly two years to donate again, I figured it was time.
I also signed up for a 100 words a day for 100 days with Catie Murphy after the beginning of the year, and figured it would be best used here. There have been a lot of things in my life in the last few years that have been confidential, so it's been harder to lay some things out here in this journal; but there are still things I need to write about, and I haven't done fiction in so long that it felt like it was time again.
We'll see how it turns out, but I'm hopeful again. I've been tending to my tendonitis and overuse problems and they seem to finally be getting better. I'll be bringing my arm weights with me and my exercise equipment, and I won't be bringing a machine capable of gaming. I'll try and see if I can update some of the insanity while I'm on the road.
The funny thing is that, yesterday, I got my badge for Season 23, the season when I was captain of the UGC TF2 team... and all the memories that brought back just made me realize how long it's been since I kept this journal up to date. And I had a friend who was in comp with me come back to play with me for an hour or so last night, he's now out of college and working and doesn't have even the time to play that much with anyone, much less even think of comp; but it was soooo good to just play and laugh and coordinate together again. I miss the old team, which can never come back again as the guys have moved onto jobs, family, a life on the most part or onto other teams. But someone asked me to be on their team, and I wasn't sure what to say, especially since they want it to not be a try-hard team but just a friend-team, so there wouldn't be the time commitment.
Still... don't really think I can go back...
And a whole new year to figure it out.