Zachary is 3, Rachel just turned 1 - that was fun! I will tell you all about that soon, and Chelsea is 6. Life is crazy, as I'm sure everyone can say. For some very specific (but not going to be discussed here) reasons Dave and I have separated. Temporarily for now and we'll see how life goes. So the kids and I are living in Wisconsin! In a quiet little town not too far from where I grew up where there are millions of trees and the sun shines... sometimes. But the birds are always singing and are kind enough to frequent the bird feeder out back and let us gawk at them from the kitchen window while we eat our breakfast each morning.The neighbors are friendly and don't play mariachi music until one o'stinkin'o'clock in the morning. One of them even has a couple little boys and our kids love playing together. The air is clean and I am running outside again when it's not drizzling or trying to snow. All in all, Wisconsin is pretty great. I think the only I really miss right now is a good old-fashioned, Wisconsin-style thunderstorm.You know, the ones that rattle the windows and you can hear the rain and thunder inside a very noisy Walmart. The storms that make the birds run for cover and then rumble away so the birds can sing again about their freshly washed homes and the goodness of a quiet life. I need the smell of good, clean, wet dirt. I think it may be time to go play in the garden again...
I'm starting a new chapter in my life. There are so many changes being made right now and I'm excited for some of the things coming up. For starters, Chelsea is big enough to play tee ball! When did that happen? She has had one practice already and has her first game tomorrow. She thinks it's pretty great and she is excited, but that may just be because I bought her a cute new pair of jogging sweats to wear. And her team is named the Royals. That all by itself makes the game worth playing. I certainly have a girly girl and we love (almost) every minute of it! It's adorable and fun to watch her out on the field trying to play with all of her girly, 6 year old awkwardness.
The other super exciting development is that, after 10 years and 2 failed attempts, I signed up for summer school at the local university (as a special student since I'm not actually in yet) and applied for the fall semester! Since things are so up in the air right now, I don't know if I will actually be able to attend - gosh, doesn't that sound familiar - but I figure if I am still here I want to have that option and I'm getting a jump start in June with 2 classes. YAY! I'm finally a college student! A very old college student, but whatever.
I think most people would not be thrilled with the classes I'm taking - Comm 101 and early US history - but I am. I may have bitten off way more than I can chew - Hello! Why did nobody warn me or tell me to stop and think about how intense two 3 credit classes over the very small space of only 3 weeks would be? - but I'm excited for them. I struggle with face to face conversation and I am terrified of speaking in front of people. I would much rather sit here and type because it always comes out so much better and if I don't like it there is always the lovely backspace button to erase whatever nonsense came out of my fingertips. So hopefully an oral comm class will help with that.
Also, I keep realizing just how dismal my high school education was. I'm guessing that's mostly due to a lack of interest (and effort) on my part. Whatever the reason, I don't know so many things. With the current political climate being the mess that it is, I wish that I knew more about the founding fathers and what our country is supposed to look like. I want to know if there was a specific time period, event, or person to blame for the fact the Constitution is well on its way to being null and void. I want to know the stories behind and of the wars. Preferably the real stories, but I recognize there is no such thing as unbiased history and I'll take whatever information the class has to offer with a grain of salt and be glad to be further ahead of where I am now.
