It's My Life

Unofficially, summer has arrived. School has ended. Memorial Day has passed us. Let the daylight linger as the days stay longer. On the heels of my near 800 mile road we headed out to Weston Bend State Park just outside of lovely Weston, Missouri.Luckily for us, it is only about a half hour from our home.  The weather forecasted rain all weekend but we still went out in search of our weekend getaway. Our camping spot was perfect! Friday night we were serenaded by owls all night long. The dog did not like it but we loved it! Weston Bend State Park is a fairly small park. I think there are only 34 camping spots. We made our reservations about six months prior to ensure we would have a space. I am happy to say this is the first state park on our attempt to earn the Missouri Camper Award for the second year.  After breakfast on Saturday a small group of us headed out to enjoy Weston, Missouri.  Small shops line both sides of the street. The men folk spent ti...

Two days after the graduation party, barely enough time to clean the house, my work sent me on a week long road trip around the state of Missouri. I have traveled from Kansas City to Springfield; Springfield to Farmington: Farmington to Ironton to Festus; From Festus to Jefferson City. That is a  total of 731 miles in five days!                               It has been a long week but it has also been a great week. I have met so many great people. It is honestly true when they say Missouri's people are nice. Everywhere I have been from hotels to restaurants from work meetings even at gas stations, people have been so friendly! It has not been all work and no play. I met up with friends along the way. I even spent a lunch hour hiking at a state park I had never been to before. I found myself less than 10 miles from Elephant Rock State Park in the southeast corner of Missouri.  The f...

I can't say I never thought the day would come. I, of course, always did.  I mean you can dread a date as it approaches but you can't deny the fact that time always passes in the same manner; twenty-four hours and a new day starts. It is a constant in this life we can count on.  It's just, when I put the date on our calendar it seemed so far off. Something I would have to deal with in the future. Then the future becomes the present and before you are fully prepared you are dealing with something that maybe you just were not ready to deal with. My son graduated from high school. I am still trying to get use to the reality of that sentence. My son graduated from high school and will be going away to college this fall. Another not so elusive date on the calendar. When the school year started the end seemed so far away. But slowly as the school year has progressed and with it came many last dates. Last football game, last home basketball game, last school dance, last day ...

Life is so bittersweet. The sweetness is mixed with the salty. The joy with the sorrow.  Pleasure with pain. The good with the bad. The yin and the yang.  Obviously, we know life is bittersweet or we would not have so many ways of describing it. Bittersweet is how I have come to describe The Boy's high school graduation.  It is honestly a very happy time. To see your child accomplishment a goal  is a wonderful feeling. He earned his A+ diploma. He has been accepted into his dream college. It is a wonderful time for him. He is not the only one celebrating. We all are. As parents, we accomplished a goal as well. Sometimes you just don't want to become a statistic. You don't want you child to become involved in drugs and alcohol, you don't want them to become teen parents, you don't want them to get involved in the criminal justice world. You don't want them to take the hardest path they can find.  I can honestly say, we made it through (bumpy at times!) wi...