Thank you Stephie and Sara for the immense encouragement your words were to me. Stephie, words can't express how thankful I am for your and Travis presence in our kids lives, and loving on them so abundantly - and Sara, I thought of you as I wrote the original post thinking how you've been through all of this and wondering just how you managed it!
As it turns out, our worry Friday night was kind of a "false alarm". Brayden spent the rest of the weekend returning to his more-like-an-8-year-old antics, and reassuring us with lots of sentiments of love that he is not growing up too fast. But, these little experiences are important for me to come to terms with, little steps of emotionally "letting go" - and recognizing it's all part of parenting.
I was talking with my mom this morning about how middle school is just such a toxic environment. One of Brayden's friends who goes to the other middle school that will eventually pool into their joint high school described his take on middle school as being "such a negative culture". Yup, that pretty much sums it up. As I told Mom, it's kind of like teaching your kid to drive and knowing they are very good at it and perfectly capable....leaving the fear not in what your kid will do wrong on the road, but the accident that could happen because of someone else. Some of these kids - boys especially - oh man, definitely on track for a major wreck!
Fortunately, this is a short week for us - leaving a much longed-for three day weekend ahead. We'll be heading to the pumpkin patch with Michele's kids on Friday - we all can't wait for it to get there.
John will be staying behind as he doesn't get these extra Fridays off. It's still yet to be determined if he and Travis will be waking up at the crack of dawn to be on site for Saturday morning's ESPN Game Day. I'm kind of shocked they picked this game and venue to showcase, but it sure makes us happy. Here's hoping Lee Corso dons the Duck head....and, of course, even more important, our Ducks take home the win!
Glad to hear you are feeling better. I was so worried about the toxic environment that we moved to Silverton, but even that is not going to solve all the problems. So, what pumpkin patch are you heading to? Willamette Valley Fruit by any chance? Kelly is coming here on Friday so that Greg can help us with some electrical things, and it would be fun to see all of you too. If you are heading this way, we should be home all day. Have a great 3 day weekend. We are definitely looking forward to it as well!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, we are going to Willamette Valley Fruit! Maybe we should try and catch up before going through the muddy corn maze, hay pit, and zipline....have a feeling we might not be as "clean and presentable" after! Shall we meet up somewhere for a breakfast treat - or what do you suggest?
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