June Days

Let's talk about June.
Because now it's July and I haven't even begun to talk about June.

Also, my sidebar may look wonky (or it may not?) but my daughter needs to do something something technical blah blah blah and she'll get to it soon. Please carry on.

Back to June. In short (or maybe not so short)...Daughter1 had a birthday, hubs and I celebrated an anniversary, we marked Father's Day with Daughter2 and her boyfriend, I drove 1300 miles by myself, hubs and I drove lots more than that together, we had three sets of houseguests, I attended a reunion of my 'growing up church' youth group, we dog sat our favorite greyhound, we boated, swam, grilled, cornholed, reminisced, and whew! I am suddenly a teensy bit tired.

Also a little overwhelmed by all these separate events that I'd like to record on my blog, but probably won't because now it's July and July looks a lot like June in terms of all the everything all the time. I'm certain this should be about fourteen different posts, but let's lump it all into one because that's kind of how I roll here.

Or how I used to roll before I became a slacker blogger.

See this is why my posts are so long. I need half a page to tell you why I need another four pages to make a point. How 'bout I just dive in?

Rooftop anniversary celebration-

Father's Day with his baby girl-

Some of the church reunion crowd-

Wait just a second...I need to add a few words here before I move on. These people y'all. They are so dear to my heart. People I grew up with who helped me become me. For years we sat side by side in church pews and Sunday School classrooms and at Wednesday night dinners. We played side by side on weekend retreats, sang side by side in choir, attended picnics, pot lucks, lock-ins and spent most Sunday evenings together in somebody's house or backyard. We laughed and cried and said come as you are, and only occasionally got into mischief (ahem).

We knew one another's parents, sisters, brothers, dogs, fears, faults, and dreams and we loved one another well. I've moved a bunch of times in the intervening years, but every church building I set foot in I am seeking the spirit of love that permeated the church I called home when I was a kid.

I got home from the reunion weekend last Sunday evening about 7 PM and on Monday afternoon family came to town-

With them came the most spectacular weather.

My big brother and his wife spent a couple of days on the lake with us and we pretty much lived on the boat. Sunshiny skies and zero humidity made for a picture perfect holiday.

We might have also had a little too much fun trying to catch a football while taking a flying leap off the dock. I've got the videos and an empty bottle of Aleve to prove it.



At the same time, we were also dog sitting Daughter2's greyhound while she vacationed up north with her boyfriend's family.

We took her everywhere we went including the boat dock, and she was a good sport.

We managed to have our first outdoor fire while my brother was in town and it was a beauty. Hubs may have gotten a little carried away stacking wood in there-ha!

Family headed home Thursday morning and then another batch of my favorite people came to town Thursday afternoon.

College friends.

Not the same college friends who visited in May, but they do all know one another. Hubs and the boys were all fraternity brothers back in the day, but more than that these friends hold a special place in our hearts because they were such an integral part of our early married years too.

They were a couple years ahead of us in school, so already had the married life thing down pat by the time we tied the knot. As newlyweds we lived in Knoxville Tennessee, and spent every single weekend with D and D. He and hubs even worked for the same company, and we'd basically move into their house on weekends to eat her wonderful home cooking, play games, cheer for the VOLS, and fall through ponds but that's another story for another day.

We moved to Richmond Virginia towards the end of our first year of marriage and it just so happened K and M were living there too. We have so many happy memories of sailing on their Hobie cat, buying our first home with K as our realtor, and hanging out with their baby boy who has a baby of his own now but we won't talk about how every cliche you've ever heard about time flying is so very, very true.

I haven't even mentioned the week I spent with my mom, or hubs treks to Tennessee for special visits with his dad, but these moments too are tucked away in our hearts and memory.

And now here we are already the second day into a brand new month. A month with more Tennessee road trips planned, more long time friends coming to stay, a grandson closer and closer to making his grand entrance into our lives, more boat rides and BBQ's and the ordinary business of everyday life to happen too...

Thinking maybe I'll go ahead and kick off July with a nap.