School Year End?

Yes, I know some of you are already out of school. But here in the PNW, we don't usually finish school until mid-June, and this year, Snopocalypse 2019 made that even later. I think our last day has been pushed out to the 24th or so.

So, a month left. But the end-of-school activities are such that I actually had Abby make me a list of all the school, Studio East, and social activities she has planned, so I can add them to mine and Lizzy's (Lizzy is 11; I still keep her calendar). That month or so left is going to be busy. And I still need to triple-check with the Studio about some things both for Abby and for me, because they may come into play the second weekend in June.

As an example, this week after school/work we have one piano lesson, one ASL rehearsal, and three evenings of continuing to earn Studio East tuition. This is in addition to homework, practicing piano or ASL at home, and the like. Friday night we have the first ASL performance, Saturday we're going to see a matinee at Studio East, and Saturday night there is a second ASL performance. Forget "soccer mom" because the mom of any child with extracurriculars of any sort is just as busy. Sunday I have my online World of Darkness game, which is Mommy's fun time; the kids are old enough to do their own thing for an afternoon every other week.

That's just this week coming up.

Yesterday both kids went to separate activities and different times: Lizzy went on this amazing adventure at iFly with her Girl Scout Troop yesterday ( I told you how awesome her leaders are!). 

And Abby went to a reunion karaoke party for all the students who were in their cast of Into the Woods last spring. And one of the kids - I think he's 17 - organized it; he came up with the idea, found a venue, got a karaoke guy, ordered pizza, all of it, as far as Abby is aware. She just showed up with her voice ready for karaoke and had a blast!

In any case, between the end of the school year which affects my job too, performances both attending and performing, Laston's birthday and Fathers' Day (we have plans to keep us busy and relatively happy), and the beginnings of summer camps (both attending and camp-counseling), it's gonna be nuts around here! If I don't post for a month or so, you know why.

Respect

I have it, in spades, for the leaders of our Girl Scout troop, in a similar way that I do for teachers.

And I only seem to become aware of all they do when I'm a volunteer/chaperone.

You see, it's easy to forget - in the day-to-day - how much they do. Except for Cookie Season, when we all pitch in, and Service Days like the one we just did today, when there are parent volunteers. Today was a relatively calm one of these, as we had eight Scouts and six adults; they didn't outnumber us by too much.

These are good kids; they've been working on their Promise and Law, after all. But they're still kids, ranging from nine to eleven, with all that entails. Personality clashes, fatigue after a long day of service, the beginnings of puberty, neurodivergence, and the usual schoolyard squabbles over who does what.

Given that  I got up this morning at five to take my mom to the airport, only to find that our water heater turned itself off again (and apparently the quick flip of the breakers I did at five didn't change anything, so I just went and flipped them again), I think I coped pretty well.

So yeah, got up at five, cleaned up as well as possible without hot water, took my mom to the airport (all the way on the opposite side of Seattle; thank goodness it's a weekend!), took her car back to her place, loved on her cat, took a shower, and walked home (only a matter of a couple blocks worth of fairly uneven terrain, but I'm still getting used to this exercise thing). Then Liz and I took off for the Service part of Service Day, which was helping a local food bank sort and pack their pantry stuff for their clients. Then I took Lizzy and a sister scout to lunch with the group (complete with misunderstandings of how much was allowed and a hoodie left at the food bank), then we all went to Target to perform the Money part of Service Day - buying toys and books and things for kids their age at Seattle Children's Hospital, and finally took the sister scout home before coming home myself.

I'm beat.

But in spite of all that unaccustomed activity, and issues like no-hot-water, and a small bobble on both Lizzy's and my part at Target, we did well. Out of spoons/bandwidth/spell slots, but we did okay.

And at least some of that is due to the good offices of our troop leaders.

Respect.