Ween Bean Goes To College

Right before my computer met its temporary demise from milk and cheerios, our family went on a very important trip back to Missouri. It was one of those, "This is the last time..." trips. My little sister, the baby of four, graduated from high school. I am the oldest. She is the youngest. With two meat heads in between. There is a fifteen year spread between us, and I still remember her birth like it was yesterday. Mom and Dad offered me the opportunity to take part in the moment of her arrival. The experience was unforgettable. Sarah was a dream come true for a firstborn with two younger brothers. I had a baby sister.


Sarah brings an incredible youthful joy to our family that has all too quickly grown up. She is a gift of spunk. And I think all of her siblings would agree, that the good Lord, saved the best for last. She's beautiful. She's brilliant. She's the girl in high school that had a tight circle of friends, wore the trendiest clothes, was the football team's manager, had to-die-for hair, a knock out smile, an above 4.0 average, and was friendly to everyone. That's my sister.

It was hard to believe my eyes when I watched her walk across the stage to accept her diploma. The world suddenly went into slow motion while my brothers and I hooted and hollered her family nickname, "Go Ween Bean!!!". It feels like yesterday that we were snuggled under the covers of your four poster bed reading your first chapter book..."The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe".


Probably one of the more difficult things I've had to do as a young adult, was leave my baby sister behind to head off to college. And after college, I was leaving a little six year old to get married and soon move across the country. I know that siblings need to move forward with their lives, but I'm not sure I've ever gotten over the guilt of leaving and feeling like I missed out on the sisterhood experiences and a little life that I had wished so hard for.

One by one, all of us left for the big world, and Sarah took on the "only child" status. But now it is her turn to leave the Missouri nest. And I couldn't be happier, as she has chosen to fly south for college. Tonight she is actually catching a wink or two in my house before moving into her dorm room. She's moving HERE. To Georgia. Almost four kiddos, and fifteen more years later, our paths are crossing again. For a moment in time, the distance between me and her will be short again. And it will be me that is benched, while she comes and goes. But I've got a second chance on sisterhood. I'll take it, and hope it takes her the new standard of five years to graduate.

Congratulations again Ween Bean...now you're going to be 'All That' AND 'Southern'. Good luck with Rush Week...one more thing I never, ever, could have done.

Four Parks in Three Days

This past weekend was a very special weekend the children had been looking forward to for weeks. Uncle Jeff and cousin Alyssa were coming down to Georgia to kick off spring break! Thankfully, the weather was fabulous and there was no need for elaborate "What are we going to do today?" plans. The children took turns tag teaming all of the adults for bike rides, walks, and park visits with movie night in the evenings. In all, we hit four parks, probably had 10 walks, and ate boat loads of greasy take out and ice cream.

Our neighborhood park was the second park we hit. I really enjoyed an hour of peaceful sunning (Faith-free), while the kids built roads, giant smiley faces, and buried their toes in the sand.


Jack discovered on this day that he could "barely lift the entire park" from underneath this climbing structure.

On Sunday, we were to meet with Uncle Christian and Aunt Kristy for lunch. We waited and we waited for them to arrive from what was supposed to be a quick errand to the local PetSmart. And we waited some more. When they arrived, they were beaming with the announcement that they were the proud parents of a new baby girl...

After some gooey eats the children and I took the clan with us to see our soon to be new home and farm. Alyssa is a horse fanatic (small understatement), and we knew she would have a good time cavorting with the horses in the pens. It surely must also be mentioned that "horses" was the topic of all games and pretend play. I'm not sure what my kids would do if Alyssa came to town and announced she was over horses and was moving on to elephants.

Yesterday, was our finale with burgers, more ice cream and a last visit in the evening to our Towne Park for more bike rides. Faith and Uncle Jeff hit it off very well on this visit. Everyone knows, it is not easy to win Faith's stringent approval, but Jeff apparently spoke her language. I told myself that I was going to try very hard not to mention that Jeff is totally available. (I could have tried harder, but what's the fun in that?)


The poor guy below, deserved some extra TLC this weekend. He was unable to join us until Sunday afternoon, after being stranded in Philly for three days due to the inclement weather. Six hundred dollars, 10 hours of delays, two days of flight cancellations, and three days of wearing the same clothes later, he finally was able to fenegel his way back home. Without March Madness in full gear, he might have turned himself inside out with boredom.

The Incredible Tom Builder doing his best to burn a generous hour of caloric intake as he supervises the mass transit of bikes and scooters.