End of A Season of Growth

Last night was Bethany's last tennis match of the season as they lost to Goshen in the first round of the IHSAA sectionals.  Cameron knew it would be a tough challenge for the boys to win, but stayed positive and focused throughout the week.  He had already lost to Goshen's #1 singles player twice and wanted to have a better showing this time.  I was hoping for better behaved fans as the last two times that Cameron had played the Redhawk, his opponent's family was extremely loud, disrespectful and obnoxious.  

Although Cameron did not win his match, he and I both got what we wished for in tonight's play.  Cameron elevated his game and won two games in the first set and had several break points that just slipped away.  He served well and hit multiple winners down the line.  His net game had improved greatly since he last played against Goshen and overall it was a fun match to watch even though Cameron 6-2,    6-0.  Thankfully, my wish came true as the player's family was absolutely quiet.  Obviously, all of the complaints that they had received from others and warnings from coaches worked and I appreciated being able to watch Cameron without feeling the intense pressure from others.

Even though all five Bethany courts lost tonight, it was one of my favorite matches to watch.   The boys had improved quite a bit of the season and it was fun to see them compete well.  The best part, however, was witnessing how supportive they were of one another.  The hugs after the matches, the shout outs to each other and the support they showed while watching each other play was just fantastic.  

COVID Boosters

At the end of August, President Joe Biden, announced that all Americans that were fully vaccinated would be able to receive a booster shot this fall.  As the Delta variant had been spreading widely throughout the south and starting to in the midwest, I was more than interested in receiving a booster dose.  Within a week, however, the news changed.  The FDA panel recommended boosters only for those over 65 or those with weakened immune systems between 50 and 64.  It also only authorized the shot for those who had received Pfizer for the first two.  The CDC followed suit shortly there after agreeing with the FDA.  The data they released showed that only 6% of all COVID deaths were among the vaccinated and the vast majority of those were over eighty years old.  

The CDC's announcement provided good news on two accounts.  First, it made President Biden look completely uninformed which both Brett and I enjoyed.  Second, my parents would be eligible for the vaccine booster at the end of September as they were over 65 and had Pfizer for their first two shots with the last one being six months ago.  Yesterday, I took a break from decluttering to help set up their appointments with the Indiana Health Department.  My mom was pleased that we could schedule them for this Friday and also that they would only have to drive to Ligonier to get them.  It will still be a couple of weeks before their third dose takes full affect, but once it does, it should keep them healthy throughout the winter months.

What Do We Do With All of This Stuff

Today's project revolved around cleaning the jewelry that I had sorted through last week and organizing a list of antique furniture that we would like to part ways with when we move to Florida.  During this process I also had to decide what to do with all of the items that were stored in or on the antique furniture.  It definitely got overwhelming and by the time Doug called me at lunch, I was in tears.  There was just so much stuff and I didn't know how to part ways with it easily.  I had always been frustrated with the amount of items that we had inherited, but hadn't really thought about it in quite some time.  Today it was absolutely overwhelming to me.

Doug had a few suggestions for me and in the end said that if it was too much to deal with than we could just pitch it all.  As tempting as it was, I wasn't quite ready to do that.  Instead, I kept working on the project little by little.  I didn't feel a lot better by the time he got home from work, but I did make some headway.  I had all of the jewelry that we wanted to save from Jeanette organized and labeled in my Grandma Guard's jewelry box.  I had a counter full of items for everyone to look at and decide if they wanted to keep them.  I hadn't pulled all of the vases out of the china cabinet yet, but that could wait until tomorrow.  

It was definitely the biggest "mess" that Doug had come home to in quite some time.  He didn't seem to mind and was more than willing to help with the last item on my list tonight - finding the names of the makers of all of the antique furniture.  We had success with the barrister bookcases and dining room table sets, but had no luck with the rocking chairs, china cabinet and double doored bookcase.  That will definitely help us when we have to decided what to keep and what to part ways with in the next year.  No matter what happened today, I was glad to hear Doug say that he was more than ready to start over once we household possessions once we move.  

Interviews, Interviews & More Interviews

Meg spent quite a bit of time early in September applying for summer internships through the Kelley School of Business career center.  She was excited at the time, but a little nervous about hearing back from anyone.  In the end she was asked to interview with every company that she applied to except for two - KPMG and Proctor & Gamble.  None of us were surprised by that as those were two of the most challenging interviews to acquire.

Last Friday she had her first interview with Ally Bank.  She was glad that it was her first as it wasn't one that she had her heart set on, but it gave her a lot of experience.  This week she had four more interviews including one that she really was interested in - Plante Moran.  Meg practiced all weekend responding to questions and even had a mock interview with Nick's stuffed moose.  She prepared questions, researched each company and bought new business clothes as well.  

I was glad to hear from Meg that she felt that the four interviews this week went well.  There were a couple of hiccups, but only minor.  She was excited about each opportunity and hoped that at least one of them would land her a second interview.  She decided to take a break from applying for internships at least until the weekend.  I was proud of how hard she worked.  I remembered from Brett and Cal's experience that interviewing and looking for an internship/job could be exhausting.  I am excited to see what she finds out and hope that she has some answers soon.

A Mini Reunion

Today Cameron, Doug and I left for the suburbs of Chicago with the plan of returning the repaired CRV to Cal and to bring back the Civic.  As an added bonus we also had plans to meet Carl and Marina for lunch at Giordano's.  We hadn't visited with them since they were here in June, and Doug really wanted to get together with them before they left for Florida in early November.  Doug had invited Dan to meet us as well, but we weren't sure who in his family would be able to attend as Addie had had homecoming last night and was part of the senior court.  Thus, we were all pleasantly surprised that she, Morgan and Kim were able to make the trip as well.

The ten of us spent our two hours at the restaurant catching up on all that had been happening in our lives recently and also talking about plans for the future.  Both Addie and Cameron shared their plans for life after high school and Morgan shared her experiences of college life.  Cal caught everyone up on the turtle races that he attended last night in Lincoln Park as well as his Mount Rushmore of Chicago athletes.  Marina talked of their plans for traveling to Florida and Carl appreciated all of the pictures, articles and jewelry that I had found in Jeanette's possessions stored at our home.  The only disappointment on the day was that Meg, Brett, Cole and Phil couldn't join us for the mini-reunion.  Hopefully, we'll all be able to get together again soon.  

Another Saturday, Another Invitational Win

This Saturday's tennis invitational took us to Wabash.  It ended up being the same format as last weekend's as there were only three teams playing today as well.  This time it was a surprise as a team cancelled early this morning due to Covid exposure.  The cancellation gave the Bruins some extra time before their first match started.  They didn't mind as they filled their time practicing, hanging out and telling stories.  I was glad that we brought extra snacks for everyone as they had time to enjoy those as well.

Cameron's first match was against Wabash.  He was the last one to take the court as the Wabash and South Adams match ran long.  Cameron took advantage of his opponent's slow play early and soon found himself in complete control of the first set winning 6-0.  By the time that his second match started all four of the other Bethany courts had finished each winning in straight sets.  As the second set started Cameron's opponent must have caught a second wind as his play improved dramatically.  Cameron had to work a lot harder to win points.  Thankfully, he continued to play well and soon found himself the victor with a 6-4 win.  

All of the other Bethany courts had started their second match against South Adams by the time Cameron finished his first one.  In fact, Ethan had finished off his second opponent at number 3 singles before Cameron even headed back to the court.  The #1 singles opponent from South Adams was more consistent than his first one, but did not have the big serve that Wabash did.  He hung in there with Cameron for the first set, but in the end lost a close one.  Cameron took control early in the second and soon found himself a winner in straight sets again.  It was a lot of fun to watch as they were the last ones to finish this afternoon and everyone from both teams was watching and cheering loudly.  We were extremely proud of how well Cameron stayed focused.  He won countless points at the net today and hit multiple down the line winners.  We hung around afterward to watch the trophy presentation and to take pictures.  There was a lot of celebrating to do since each of the Bethany courts won both matches in straight sets today.  What an awesome day it was on the tennis courts.

  

A Day Off

Doug decided a few weeks ago to take today off from work.  He didn't have any specific plans, but thought it would be a good day for a break.  Once he saw all of the items that I had pulled out of storage and organized this past week, he decided instead that today would be the perfect time to begin parting ways with some of our treasurers.  Thus, today the first item on our agenda was to visit Newcomer Jeweler in Nappanee.  Doug had talked to them earlier in the week and they were interested in several pieces of jewelry that we had found.  It took about an hour to sort through all of them, but once they did we had a lot more information on the majority of the pieces, had found a few to sell, and left two to be appraised.  We felt really good about it.

Our next stop was Nunemaker Coin Shop in Mishawaka.  While I was sorting through my jewelry chest, I found some coins that Jeanette had given to Brett, Cal, Meg and Cam.  They were definitely interesting with some Benjamin Franklin and Eisenhower dollars, Kennedy half dollars and wheat pennies.  Nunemakers was interested in them and soon the Heinisch children had $140 to split between the four of them instead of their face value amount of $60.  They were all happy to hear that.  While we were there, Doug also sold them some silver that we had had in our possession for years.  He also got to catch up with Alan Nunemaker, one of LaMarr's long time friends.  We hadn't seen him since the Lakins' family was last here five years ago. 

Lunch was next on the agenda as we stopped at Evil Czech for tacos.  They definitely have the best around and we enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere.  Next, Doug found a pair of tennis shoes at Shoe Carnival before we left for Goshen.  We had just enough time to drop off Meg's paperwork at the breast cancer doctor before getting flu shots.  Our last stop of the day was Walmart to buy snacks and drinks for tomorrow's tennis tournament.

It wasn't all work today as we still had time to take a walk on the WACF, play Ticket to Ride this afternoon and have a bonfire tonight.  At the end of the day, Doug looked at me and said, "After today's activities, I think that we might officially be old."  I had to agree, it definitely felt more like the day in the life of a retiree.  Either way, we still had a lot of fun and ended up with $800 more than we started with this morning.  

Another Day, Another Horror Movie

Whether it was the cooler temperatures or the fact that Cal asked us to watch scary movies the two nights that he was home, something in me said that it was time for scary movie season to start.  Since Cameron's match against New Prairie was cancelled due to rain tonight, I asked him if he wanted to watch Scream 2.  We had seen the original last spring and I thought he might enjoy the sequel.  He didn't have a lot of homework, so he was ready for another movie night.  Doug was in on the fun as well and we started the movie as soon as it became dark.

The film wasn't quite as good as the first one, but we all enjoyed it just the same.  It had a few of the characters from the original, but unfortunately, our favorite was killed part of the way through the movie. It was a little more violent than the first one, but that was to be expected. I didn't remember who the killer was, but Doug did.  Cameron said that he would have never guessed the ending.  I don't know if we'll watch Scream 3, but after tonight I'll be ready for more scary movie nights soon.

Another Week, Another Visitor

 It was definitely a huge bummer for Cal to have his back window smashed in last weekend.  The nice part for us, however, was that he decided to return home to fix it.  Thus, we got to spend a rare three days with him this week.  He worked from home during the day and I tried not to bother him too much during that time period.  Thankfully, it was a slower than normal week for him, so I did get to see him during lunch and at other times of the day.  He took advantage of any breaks he had to walk around our neighborhood.  The weather didn't cooperate today, but Monday and Tuesday were nice days for outside activities.

Cal spent part of Monday evening at the Lamles visiting Winston.  He told Grandma Jane that Winston cried when he saw him.  I believe that.  I secretly hoped he would bring him home for awhile, no such luck.  Once Cal returned and we got back from Cameron's tennis match, we all watched the movie "Get Out."  I couldn't believe that Cal had never seen it.  It was just as creepy as I had remembered it being, and Cal really liked it.

Tuesday after work, Cal ate dinner with Grandma and Grandpa before taking a long walk.  Once he got home, he asked if anyone wanted to watch the movie "Us."  It had been directed by the same person who filmed Get Out.  We had never seen it, so Cam, Doug and I were all in for another movie night.  Soon, the four of us were all creeped out by it.  The plot was definitely different than any other scary movie that we had watched before.  It left us feeling a little nervous when it was all over and none of us wanted to check for families standing in our driveway afterward.  

Today, Cal had to leave shortly after dinner.  He had to work on site tomorrow and Friday.  His car still wasn't fixed, but we told him to take the Civic and we would bring the CRV to him when we all met Grandpa Heinisch in the suburbs on Sunday.  Before Cal left, Grandma and Grandpa brought up dinner for him and then they played Rummikub.  They really enjoyed it and we were all sad to see Cal leave afterward.  Thankfully, I know he'll be back again when he gets a chance and we will get to see him this weekend.  It was fun having he and Brett home these past two weeks.  I love visiting with my adult children and am glad that they are all doing well.  

Sorting, Sorting and More Sorting

Over the years, Jeanette had given Doug and I several items from her home that had sentimental value to her or that wore family heirlooms.  She had also given us a few pieces of jewelry that she thought that we might want or that our children would like.  In addition she sorted through all of the coins that her family had saved over the years and put them in baggies for each of the Heinisch children.  When Carl decided to sell the house several years ago, he called Doug and told him to come out and sort through the house for possessions of his that he would like to keep.  While we were there that weekend we found several tubs with our names on them that Jeanette had set aside and a few family items that we wanted to keep as well.  It was a sad painful process, but we were glad to be able to hold on to the memory items.

This week I decided to pull out everything that Jeanette had given us and sort through it all.  It was a little overwhelming at first.  I decided to tackle it by groups.  I first sorted through all of the jewelry.  There was a lot more of it then I remembered.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with it all, but after a day of thinking about it, I decided to write down each piece in a notebook, assign a number to the piece, put the jewelry in a small baggie and number that as well.  It was a lot of work, but in the end I was able to label 75 pieces of jewelry and found some really interesting pieces as well as some of Jeanette's pins from her high school and college days.  I also was able to locate her wedding veil and confirm with my mom that Jeanette's wedding dress was stored at her house with mine.  Tackling the silverware and silver tea sets was a lot easier than the jewelry as there was less of it and most it was already labeled.

Fortunately, Doug was a huge help with the photos and articles that I found in the items that Jeanette left for me.  We had fun looking through her baby book, wedding album and high school graduation program.  We sorted out duplicate pictures to give to Dan and Phil and wrote names on the back of the ones we were keeping so that our children would know who everyone was.  Looking through her tub of memorabilia didn't make me as sad as I thought that it would.  Waiting seven years after her death definitely made it easier.  I did talk to Carl a few times yesterday.  I had found his jewelry cache in the tub and wanted to let him know that I had his wedding ring.  He was happy to hear that and called back later to see if I had a folder of pictures and articles that would help him with his memoir writing.  It felt good to help him relocate that information.  As I hung up the phone I realized that Jeanette had put a lot of thought into what she wanted to leave for all of us.  She knew that I was the one who would sort through all of the memories and make sure that everything was organized and labeled for generations to come.  As overwhelming as it was, I knew that it meant a lot to Doug and our children which made the work well worth it.  In the end I was proud to be her memory keeper.

Last Regular Season Match

Tonight, the Bethany boys' tennis team played their last regular season match against Fairfield high school.  The boys knew that it would be a close match as the Falcons had won against some of the same teams that they had beat and lost to some of the same as well.  Cameron had read a few scores on their number #1 singles player and realized that it would be even more challenging for his position as the Fairfield player had beaten Goshen's #1 6-1, 6-2.

The match tonight started promptly at 4:30.   I was glad that we all made it on time as the walk around the building and the baseball field to the tennis courts was a long one.  It was well worth the walk, however, as the Bruins came ready to play.  From the beginning the matches were all extremely close, Cameron's especially.  He and his opponent rallied back and forth, point after point and stayed on serve for most of the match.  It was by far the best that we had seen Cameron play at the net and we enjoyed watching him hit winner after winner.  It wasn't quite enough, but Cameron hung tough til the very end, losing 6-3, 6-4.  His team score was much the same with Bethany losing 2-3, but 6-3 was the worst score on the day, showing the Bruins that they definitely had what they needed to beat Fairfield if they met in sectionals.  First, however, they had the Wabash Invitational to look forward to next Saturday.  We can't wait to watch them compete in that.

Cincinnati Woes

Cal called last night from Cincinnati.  He was spending the weekend there with friends as they had tickets to watch the Dodgers play the Reds tomorrow.  They were hoping to see Pujols hit a home run in one of his last major league games.  They had enjoyed themselves Saturday afternoon watching the IU game at a Cincy bar at least for the first three quarters of the game.  After that Cal's friends wouldn't let him trash talk anymore as Cincinnati had taken the lead.  Cal was disappointed in the score and the fact that he had to be quiet, but was happy to report that he didn't get beat up at the bar.

Cal's second piece of news wasn't quite as fun as the first part, however.  While he was hanging out with his friends, someone threw a rock through his back window completely shattering it.  The good news was that all they took was a couple of cases of beer, but he would definitely need a new back window.  He and his friends duct taped a trash bag to the opening, so that they could still go to the baseball game today.  Cal made plans with Doug to come home after he took his friends back to Chicago, so that he could get the window fixed here.  It would be a long day of driving for him, but at least everyone was safe and they all still got to enjoy the weekend. 

Portage Invite Champions

The Portage Invitational for boys' tennis was scheduled for today.  We had had a lot of experience with this tournament as Cal played in it three times during his high school days.  At that time it was played in Merrillville and we had fond memories of watching Cal participate before stopping in Valparaiso on the way home for dinner and mini-golf.  This was Cameron's first time playing in the tournament and besides the venue change, there was also a reduction in teams.  The top two high schools cancelled to play in bigger tournaments and another team called off due to lack of players.  Bethany, Portage and Merrillville were all still available, so technically it was only a three team match.  The Bruins decided to call it an invitational anyway and we enjoyed it just as much as in years past.

Doug and I arrived at the high school before 11 a.m. Eastern time.  Portage and Merrillville had already squared off, but still had one court left to finish before Bethany could play its scheduled match against Merrillville.  The two players left on the 3 singles court went into a tiebreak in the second set.  Fortunately, Portage held out to win, therefore, eliminating the need for a third set.  It was still a twenty minute wait for Cameron's match to start, so Doug and I decided to take a short walk.  It was a lot hotter than I had expected.  Fortunately, we dressed for warm weather and Cameron wore his short sleeve tennis shirt as well.

Cameron lost his first match 6-3, 6-1.  He was disappointed in that, but we weren't.  Doug hadn't seen Cameron play this week and was impressed with how much he had improved from his previous week's matches.  His serve was consistent and he hit some hard passing shots.  The positive from the match up was that Cameron's teammates had all won their courts.  Thus, his loss didn't hurt the outcome of the match.

Cameron had a short break before he played Portage giving him time to regroup.  It must have helped as he started off strong and soon had a 5-0 lead over his opponent.  Portage did hang in there to win a few games, but in the end Cameron won 6-2, 6-1.  It was definitely a fun match to watch.  Cameron hit several drop shot winners and had some awesome volleys at the net.  He even had one return that bounced on the Portage side of the net and spun back on his side.  Making the win even better was the fact that all of Cameron 's teammates won their courts as well. It may not have technically been a tournament win, but the Bruins definitely enjoyed celebrating their Portage Invite championship singing their victory song before riding the bus home.

Music on the Lawn

 After a two year hiatus, Music on the Lawn returned to Bethany.  The only change to previous years was the food.  Instead of a pork barbeque dinner, the fund raiser included Rise N Roll pie with a side dish of ice cream which fit our family well.  The blueberry slice that I had was delicious.  The music was fantastic and of course, the band was our favorite part.  Cameron had told us that one of their numbers was a jazz version of Just a Closer Walk with Thee.  We weren't sure what to expect, but the song sounded fabulous and was definitely our favorite of the night.   Grandma and Grandpa were also able to attend Cameron's performance and thankfully, I was able to pick up Doug from Midway this morning so that he could enjoy the evening as well.   Overall, it was a wonderful night and made me proud to be a Bethany music parent. 

 

Guns N Roses

Cal texted me tonight to let me know that Guns N Roses held a concert at Wrigley Field today.  I asked him if he went.  He texted back, "No, It's Euchre night.  Plus that's the biggest white trash crowd I've ever seen."  I had to laugh as I had just played their song "One in a Million" for Brett and at the end, he said, "Mom, what was going on with your generation back in the late 1980s, early 1990s."

As much as Doug and I loved Guns N Roses, our passion for the band never won over the Heinisch children.  There were only a few of GNR's songs that ever made the playlist on our long road trips when they were younger.  Everyone liked "Used to Love Her (But I had to Kill Her)" and a few enjoyed "November Rain" and "Knocking On Heavens Door", but other than that we rarely listened to them.  Meg hated "Sweet Child of Mine", another one of Doug and my favorites, and in all honesty most of their songs had too much swearing or negative undertones for us to play for them.

After my conversations with Brett and Cal this week, I thought a lot about the hype surrounding Guns N Roses when Doug and I were in college.  I remembered the first time I heard their song "Welcome to the Jungle."  I was riding in a car with my friend Barb on the way to her Dad's.  She loved the song and instantly I became obsessed.  I had all of their albums, went to their concert and played their songs constantly.  They were edgy and controversial at the time and I thought they were just awesome.  Meg and Cal's History of Rock N Roll professor called them "the poor man's Aerosmith."  Maybe that was why Doug liked them so much as he was a huge fan of both groups.  Just as Cal saw at their current concert, Guns N Roses appealed to the white trash crowd.  Those of us who grew up in the same Northern Indiana area as Axl Rose could totally relate to him.  Even the song Paradise City was rumored to be about Bloomington in the late 1980s - my home from 1987-1992.  

After all of the negativity this week, maybe I should invite my children to "Get in the Ring" as Guns N Roses did to their own haters years ago.  Nah, I know that the Heinisch children will never be fans of Guns N Roses.  Instead I'll just quietly sing along every time I hear the song "Patience"and  enjoy the favorite memories that GNR brings to mind.  

26 Years of Memories All in Two Days

Brett arrived home Monday night.  He had a dentist appointment on Tuesday morning that he had rescheduled from July when his hours at work changed.  Even though we had just seen him last weekend, he wanted to make sure that he had his six month cleaning completed before anything else conflicted with the appointment.  I was glad as it was really nice to have him home.  The last time that Doug was in Ocala for a week and Cameron was busy with school and tennis, it got pretty boring around the Heinisch home.  Therefore, I appreciated the company.  Brett and I were able to talk several long walks, attend Cameron's tennis match and watch a few episodes of Seinfeld with Cam afterward.

As relaxing as Brett's time was at home, we did have one major project to complete.  Brett had three tubs of childhood memories to sort through along with all of the plaques, trophies, certificates that I pulled off the basement walls.   I helped him as much as possible, but it was a lot of work for him deciding what to keep and what to purge.  Brett couldn't believe all that I had saved and we both enjoyed looking through it.  Some of the memorabilia Brett was happy to keep, others went straight to the trash pile.  It was fun to see what was important to him and what wasn't.  There were only a couple of items that he thought about getting rid of that I encouraged him to keep.  One was his 4 team championship toddler Bulls t-shirt.  Brett was never a Bulls or basketball fan, but he knew that his dad was and he did remember the hype around Michael Jordan, so he didn't mind putting it back in the tub.  There was only one time that Brett teared up as he was sorting through his childhood artifacts.  When I asked him what was making him sad, he said that it really wasn't anything specific, just nostalgic memories of his childhood.  I could relate as that was how I felt last week when I started this project.  

I was impressed with all that Brett accomplished in the forty-eight hours that he was home.  In the end he filled two garbage bags of trash and was able to consolidate all of his memories into two tubs instead of three.  It was definitely overwhelming at times, but fun just the same.  I enjoyed the time with him and appreciate that he reintroduced me to the Love Boat which was a lot of fun to watch and brought back a ton of memories as well.  

Senior Night

Tonight was senior night on the tennis courts at Bethany.  I was nervous about the event as it had taken some coordinating between the senior parents and our family to get the information out to everyone.  I was also a little bit worried about the Spanish rice that I was making as it was the first time that I had made the side dish for those outside of our family.  The part that made me the most anxious, however, was the weather forecast.  A storm was supposed to hit around 6 p.m. and I wasn't exactly sure what would happen if that occurred.

The match started early because of the predicted rain.  Cameron was riding a high from his play last night at Chesterton.  He had only won one game in the two set match, but he played extremely well.  He used the energy from that match to come out on fire tonight winning the first 5 games.  His Blackhawk Christian opponent rallied, holding serve twice and breaking Cameron once, but after the short rain delay ended, Cameron won the next two points to win the first set.  As the sun was shining at the start of the second set, I really thought that they'd get in another hour of tennis.  Shortly, after the first game in the second set started, however, the skies opened up and it was obvious that the match would have to be postponed.  

As the boys scrambled to find shelter, two of the senior parents and I drove around to the small pavilion behind Bethany.  Earlier in the day Matt had made an alternative plan to hold senior night under cover in case of rain and we were thankful for that.  Once the cake, food and tables were ready, I drove back to the courts to find the team and let them know that everything was ready.  The boys had just returned to the tennis courts to sing their victory song.  Blackhawk Christian wasn't able to come up with another date to complete the match and since every varsity court had won their first set, the Bruins had no problem calling the match in Bethany's favor.

For all of my worries today, senior night was a nice celebration for the five boys on the team.  It did rain, but the pavilion provided enough shelter for all who attended.  Matt gave very nice speeches for each of the seniors and my Spanish rice turned out better than I would have expected.  The cake that was decorated by the deli person at Kroger also looked better than anyone would have predicted and the senior class turned out in full force to support the boys.  Overall, it was a wonderful event and I was glad to have participated.  

So Over All of This

Last year our family realized that a lot of people in our community had different thoughts on wearing masks and getting vaccinated during the pandemic than we did.  We knew that the only way to avoid the virus was to  follow what we felt was appropriate, to stay away from crowded indoor areas such as church and restaurants, wear masks when we felt it was appropriate and get vaccinated as soon as possible.  I was thankful that Bethany followed the same philosophy that we did.  I know that it wasn't always fun last year for the students, but it did keep the incidence rate of Covid infections at their school to a minimum.  

Fast forward a year and not much has changed in our area.  Vaccinations became available statewide, but only 30% of adults in Kosciusko County chose to receive them.  Although positive rates in the summer decreased dramatically, the Delta variant arrived early this fall and once again cases exploded and ICU beds were in short supply.  The arguments between those who followed the science and those who only got their Covid advice from social media started up again.  Fortunately, Bethany chose to take the health department's advice early and return to mask wearing.  For Cameron it meant that he wouldn't have to quarantine if exposed since he had been vaccinated.  We were happy to hear that as we didn't want him to miss tennis.  Our local public school chose a different route and over 20% of the high school students in one class had to quarantine or isolate two weeks ago.  I was really happy that we weren't part of that mess.

We had learned to accept that this would be the new norm for our community.  We knew that here would be times that we would have to mask up, get a vaccine booster or stay away from crowded areas during high transmission times.  Last week our President, however, decided that he would "solve" the Covid problem.  He announced that the Department of Labor would pass a mandate through OSHA that would require all employers with 100 or more employees to require vaccinations or weekly negative test results for the unvaccinated. 

Whoever thought of that idea had obviously never had to worry about hiring workers during an employment shortage.  All Doug has been doing these past few months is coming up with ways to hire new employees - bonuses, increased wages, transportation help - it really hasn't made a big difference.  His company is not alone in the struggle.  Every place we drive by has a "help wanted" or "now hiring" sign.  It just hasn't worked.  Now, these same businesses all have one more obstacle to overcome in looking for employees and I think that it is the biggest one of all.  Dr. Fauci may think that everyone wants to get back to work and mandating vaccines will make a huge difference.  I think that he and President Biden have no experience in the real world.  If an adult hasn't been vaccinated yet, there's little chance that they ever will be.  Hopefully, the President's speech will be just that, all talk.  If not, Doug said they will come up with a plan.  It won't make the unemployment issues in our area any easier, but there's not much anyone can do about it but keeping on plugging away.  

Home & Away

 Everyone was exhausted from yesterday's activities, so no one was moving very fast this morning.  Thankfully, we didn't need to leave Bloomington until 2:30 so we had plenty of time to wake up and get started on our day.  Meg talked Cameron into trying a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks before Doug and I headed over to her apartment to help hang a few pictures and the ghost lights.

Meg then chose Buffalouies for lunch.  Even though it wasn't noon yet, it was already packed when we arrived.  Thankfully, we found a table outside so we could enjoy the beautiful sunshine while we were waiting for our food.  After lunch we walked through campus. The campus looked beautiful and we appreciated all of the shade trees as it was quite a bit hotter than yesterday.  We dropped Meg and Cameron off at her apartment afterward so that we could pack for our return trip home.  Doug was flying to Orlando this afternoon, so we rearranged the Pilot in order for him to access his suitcase once we pulled into the Indianapolis airport.

The drive to Indy was slow, especially with the detour due to construction on 37 in Martinsville.  Doug's plane was delayed about twenty minutes, so he was early even with the increased traffic.  I was sad to see him go as we had had a fun weekend.  He would be extremely busy with work this week, however, and Cameron and I had a lot of activities planned as well with Bethany tennis and Brett coming home for a few days.  Our trip back to Syracuse was a quick one as we had the US Open to listen to on Sirius radio and football to watch on YouTube TV.  

As soon as we pulled in the driveway, we unpacked the Pilot and went our separate ways for the next few hours.  Cameron headed upstairs to relax and I went outside for a walk before it got dark.  We met back up later to pick up Taco Bell for dinner and watch the Bears game.  Cam liked the new spicy chicken taco sandwich that he tried and the Bears at least made the game against the Rams respectable only losing by twenty.  Doug called close to 10 p.m. to let me know that he had arrived at the Springhill Suites in Ocala without any issues.  I was glad to hear that and thankful for safe trips all around today.  

Let the Tailgating Begin

 For the first time in two years we were back in the grass lots at Indiana University tailgating before the start of an IU football game.  It was a little different than two years ago as Cal and his friend weren't in attendance, but other than that it all felt the same.  We set up the Hoosier tent, got out the Italian Beef out and started throwing the football.  Meg and three of her friends soon joined us and shortly afterward Pam arrived.  It was nice to have a few additions to our party and we all enjoyed the afternoon.  The only downside, at least for Cameron, was that the cellular service went out so he couldn't check the other games going on at the time.  He also got his butt kicked at washers by several people.  It's definitely a skill that he will have to work on before our next tailgate.

                                           

Pam, Doug, Cameron and I made it into the game in plenty of time for the kickoff.  The stands were absolutely packed, which surprised us a little as the Hoosiers were playing Idaho and were a 30+ point favorite.  It was nice to see the enthusiasm and we enjoyed watching the Marching Hundred pregame show and seeing the IU players run on to the field.  Tonight was the complete opposite of last week's game as IU took control early.  By the end of the first quarter we were ahead 21-0 and Idaho looked completely overmatched.  It wasn't a complete shut out, but midway through the fourth quarter, we decided that IU was on top to stay and headed toward the Pilot.  We definitely made the correct choice as the Hoosiers won 56-14 and we made it home in time to order pizza and play Ticket to Ride with Brett before he went to bed.  It was definitely a wonderful day in Bloomington.

Winning Courts All Around!

When Cameron moved up to #1 varsity singles on the Bruins tennis team after playing #1 junior varsity last year, we knew that it would be challenging.  There would definitely be more loses than wins and we would all have to adjust our expectations.  Doug, Cameron and I had done very well with the change until the last couple of matches.  Cameron had started off the season against several stated ranked #1 singles players.  We knew that in those matches, it would just be an accomplishment to win a game and not be the first one off of the court.  He had succeeded in those goals, but recently the expectations had changed.  Cameron had played against teams such as Prairie Heights and Triton.  Those teams had veteran #1 singles players, but they weren't the level of Goshen, Northridge, Westview or Fremont.  Cameron was close to winning a set in both of those matches, but just couldn't pull out the win.  Thus, he was putting even more pressure on himself to perform well tonight against Northwood.  Their undefeated team of two years ago had all graduated and Cameron knew that his opponent was beatable.  

The pressure that Cameron had put on himself to win definitely got to him at the beginning of the match.  Before he knew it, he was down 0-3 to a Northwood player that was nowhere near his talent level.  To make matters worse, Cameron could not get his first serve in to save his life, which made the pressure on his second serve even more intense.  Matt talked to him at the change over.  I could tell from the conversation between the two of them that it was a little more intense than normal.  I had hoped whatever his coach had told him would help him in the match, but Cameron continued his losing streak and soon was down 0-5 looking at a first set loss.  

At the next change over that something inside of Cameron changed.  To start, he slowed down his first serve and his double faults decreased dramatically.  Getting his first serve in put more pressure on his opponent and soon the unforced errors started to accumulate on the Northwood side.  I was extremely happy that Cameron was able to hold serve and soon found the match to be a much more competitive one at 3-5.  At that point, I knew that it was pretty unlikely that Cameron would be able to recover from a 0-5 start, but I remained hopeful that a first set win was within reach.  Soon it became even more feasible as Cameron won another 3 games to go ahead with a score of 6-5.  The last game of the first set was a close one and the Northwood player had several chances to win his serve, but in the end Cameron broke him and won the first set 7-5.  We couldn't believe it and were incredibly happy for him.  

The next set started off with Cameron jumping out to a 3-0 lead and we hoped that it would be an easy win for him.  Cameron became nervous, however, and started to struggle with his serve again and had a few more unforced errors.  Soon the score was tied at 4-4 with Cameron serving.  Thankfully, he calmed down, held his serve and went on to play an awesome last game to win his first ever #1 varsity singles match.  He was so incredibly proud of himself and spent the next few minutes celebrating with his teammates and coaches.  It was so much fun to watch.  There was a lot of highlights from today's match especially knowing that Cameron was not the only winner on the night as all five varsity courts brought home the W as well.  My  favorite moment of the evening, however, was when Cameron yelled, "Let's Go Mom!"  Let's Go!

Don't Need a Day to Remember a Special Person

Today was a busy day at home for me.  I had a list of items that I wanted to complete in order for us to leave for Bloomington tomorrow.  Making it more challenging was the fact that I just didn't feel well.  I slowly kept working on my to-do list trying not to sit down as I was positive that I would never get back up once I took a break.  It wasn't all work today as I had a haircut this morning with Amanda and took a walk with Paula.  It was nice to get out of the house and catch up with both of them as well.

When I finally got home at 5:30 this afternoon, I did finally sit down for a little while.  I was absolutely exhausted and thought that I would take a break and work on the computer.  I opened up Facebook and my feed exploded with memories from this date.  That's when it dawned on me that today would have been Paw Paw's 99th birthday.  I loved looking back at the pictures and made sure to post something right away.

At first I felt bad for not remembering the date, but after I really thought about it, today was no different than any other day.  I hadn't forgot about Paw Paw today as he's in my memory every day.  There's never a day that goes by when I don't see something in our house that reminds me of him or think of a story that he told me or talk to my Mom, or Doug or one of the Heinisch children about something that he did.  Paw Paw was a huge part of my life and still is.  He supported me in everything I did.  Even when I visited him in the hospital after he was diagnosed with cancer, the first thing he said to me was, "I have to get out of here.  I'm supposed to watch the little guy (Cameron) tomorrow."  Yes, I still wish he was here today to celebrate his birthday with us.  The "little guy" and I would have loved stopping by to drop off some limburger cheese and Crown Royal in honor of the day.  We would have enjoyed hearing one more story or making one more wager on football.  Since that's not possible, I am so incredibly thankful that I have all of those memories surrounding me every day, so even though he's not physically here, he's always just a thought away.  

Happy Birthday Crap Pa - thanks for loving me, no matter what!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

 With the garage sale over and Cameron and Meg back in school, I have had some extra time to work on projects at home.  Doug and I talked about all that we needed to do before we moved.  It seemed a little overwhelming at first, but the more we talked and the more I thought about it, I felt that the best thing to do was to get started.  

Number one on my to-do list was to begin consolidating the memory items in our home.  Realizing that I not only needed to sort through all of the Heinisch family memorabilia, but also quite a bit of the Brucker family's as well, I had to come up with a plan of what to tackle first.  Brett didn't have a lot still stored at our home, but since he was coming home next week, it made sense to start with his belonging's first.  Thus, last week I headed downstairs and pulled all of his photos, certificates, medals and ribbons off of the walls.  I then gathered together all of his trophies and plaques for him to sort through as well.  

Yesterday, I continued my project by sorting through everything in the three tubs that I had used to save Brett's school day memories.  I organized it all in neat piles so that he could look through it easier.  When I finished, I called him and apologized for keeping as much as I did.  I was sure that he didn't need his second grade Valentine's, but just in case he did, they were there.

Today, I moved on to a project that involved all of his siblings as well.  I pulled out all of the blankets that had been given to the Heinisch four over the years.  Some were handmade and others were inherited.  In the end the four of them were able to look through them all and decide what they wanted to keep. 

There was definitely a lot of wonderful memories in all that I cleaned out these past few days.  It made me feel a little sad to walk down memory lane, but I did pretty well through it all.  That was until Cal sent me something that he saw on Twitter.  In honor of the show's 25th anniversary, Nick Jr. had posted a video of Steve from Blues Clues reminiscing about the fun that everyone had had with Blue and how sad it was when he left for college.  He commented on how much they had all grown since that time period and how he had never stopped thinking of them.  It definitely tugged at the heartstrings, especially when I found Cal's beloved Blues Clues blanket in our window seat shortly afterward.  To honor the day and all of the memories flooding through the Heinisch home tonight, Doug chose the first song for our Spotify playlist tonight - "Silly Hat". It was the perfect song to end a week of sorting through the Heinisch family memories.

  

Some Much Needed Rain at the Wrong Time

It has been quite awhile since we have had any measurable rain.  Even though we had been keeping up on watering the flowers, we had noticed that the planters out front were looking pretty sad.  Thus, Doug and I spent some time on Monday dumping some of the potted plants and moving others to the backyard to live out the rest of the season.  Fortunately, our yard stayed green during the recent drought thanks to all of the shade that our trees provided this August and September.  

We did finally receive some much needed rain this evening which we appreciated for the grass seed that Doug planted in the backyard yesterday.  Unfortunately, it came at the wrong time as the storm blew in while the Bethany Bruins were taking on the Westview Warrior on the tennis court.  Postponing the match to tomorrow night wasn't that big of a deal, but dealing with the extreme wind before the storm hit was.  Everyone struggled to keep the ball on the court and being in the middle, Cameron had the most "let" points of his tennis career due to errant shots.  Cameron also struggled to keep his serve in play with the wind gusts.  He wasn't happy about the conditions or the postponed match, but realized that he couldn't do much about it.  His court ended with a 0-6, 1-6 loss, but he planned to be there tomorrow to cheer on the rest of his teammates.  Hopefully, the rain and wind will take a break until the postponed match is completed.  

Labor Day Fun

While we were enjoying our Labor Day weekend in Syracuse, the rest of the Heinisch family was having fun as well.  Meg invited Nick down for the three day weekend and they made the most of it by going to Indy for shopping at TJ Maxx and having dinner at Maggiano's, taking long walks, trying the new Crumbl Cookies store in Bloomington and watching their favorite movies.  They did also make time to clean Meg's apartment, meal prep for next week and finish some homework.  

Brett's three day weekend started yesterday as he returned to his normal work schedule.  It was the first time in almost two years that he was in Bloomington for an extended break and didn't have to work a part time job.  He was excited for the break and was looking forward to reading, relaxing and watching The Love Boat. He participated in mass on Sunday night where he saw Nick and Meg and then took a long walk with them today.  He also made plans to hang out at Andrew's tomorrow night and to go to lunch with a friend on Wednesday.

Cal's holiday was spent in Nashville, Tennessee with a large group of friends.  They reserved hotel rooms just off of the main strip, so that they could walk to all of the entertainment that the city had to offer.  Cal texted multiple times while he was visiting the Volunteer state, mostly about football.  My favorite message was received yesterday, however, when he sent a picture of their group together with the caption, "Still Alive!"  We were definitely happy to hear that and glad that he had found a new city to enjoy.

A Beautiful Sunday for Relaxing

As none of us had plans today, we decided to spend the day in Fort Wayne.  The weather was perfect for eating lunch outside on the patio at Hoppy Gnome.  Once we put our name in for a table, we walked around downtown Fort Wayne for a little bit.  While we were exploring, we found a beautiful park with a fountain and saw several other restaurants in the area that we would like to try at a later date.  We arrived back at the Hoppy Gnome just as they called to let us know that our table was ready.  We all enjoyed our lunch choices - Doug ordered a flatbread, Cameron had pork belly with mashed potatoes and jalapeno coleslaw and I chose chicken Tinga tacos.  The service was pretty poor, but the food and time together made up for that.

After lunch we headed to Putt Putt by Glenbrook Mall.  We had never played at that course and were looking forward to trying it.  Everyone else in Fort Wayne must have had the same idea as the place was packed.  We decided to try another day and stopped at Paige's Crossing on the way back home instead.  Thankfully, we got on course A with no problem and soon Cameron and I were in a highly competitive match.  We were actually tied at the end of 18 holes, but Cameron was declared the winner when he had a hole in one on the "19th" hole.  That not only gave him the family victory, but a free round of mini-golf as well.  In all of the times that we had played at Paige's Crossing, no one had ever even come close to a hole in one on the bonus green.  We were impressed.

Once we got home, we invited Grandma and Grandpa up for a round of Oh Hell!  Doug was the winner, but Cameron was close to the number one spot.  Afterward Doug started a bonfire and we set up the big screen for a movie night.  We had debated all day about what movie to pick.  There were so many good ones on our list.  In the end we chose "Body Heat."  We hadn't seen the 1981 thriller in at least a decade and it was really good.  I didn't remember all of the twists and turns of the plot which made it even better.  

We finished the movie in time to watch the last quarter of the Notre Dame vs. Florida State game with Cameron.  Just when we thought the Seminoles were out of it, they came marching back to tie the game at the end of regulation.  FSU lost in overtime, but at least they made it a game.  Cal texted us afterward and we all shared his sentiment - "New year, still hate ND!"  Even the disappointment of the Notre Dame victory couldn't ruin this wonderful day.

Could We Get A Redo?

 Today was the day that we had talked about since college football season ended last January - the kickoff of the first IU game.  Adding excitement to the game was the fact that #17 IU was slated to play #18 Iowa in Iowa City.  We had talked about buying tickets for the game, but due to a Saturday morning tennis match at Triton, we decided to decorate the house and have our own tailgate at home.  

In the end we couldn't have been more thankful that Bethany's tennis schedule prevented us from traveling to the Hawkeye state.  Within three minutes of kickoff, IU had let Iowa score an uncontested touchdown run and had thrown a pick six on its opening drive.  The momentum was gone before the game even got underway and Iowa dominated from that point on winning 34-6.  IU football fans were taken by surprise and Twitter rang out with tweets asking for a better offense.  Adding insult to injury was the fact that the Freshmen away jerseys had incorrectly spelled the name on the state as "Indinia" - a complete embarrassment all around.  

I was worried that Cameron would be extremely disappointed in the lopsided loss, but thankfully, he took it all in stride.  Since it was over so incredibly quickly, he never had time to get disappointed.  He felt that next week would make a big difference as it would give the new transfer students a chance to settle into IU's offense.  I hoped that he was right, but years of being an IU football fan made me a little apprehensive.  Guess we'll find out next Saturday.  

"Why Is Everything So Much More Stressful When Dad's Involved?"

In helping Meg search for internships recently I had been checking her emails with her daily.  In doing so I realized that one that she received from IU provided information for her as a graduating senior.   I had also noticed this summer that her college loan information had her graduating in December of 2022 instead of May 2023 as she had planned.  Since Meg was just a junior, I decided to do some research for her and find out what her projected graduation should be. 

After looking more into it, I found that as an accounting major Meg could actually graduate when she had 120 credits.  Most accounting undergrads waited until they had 150 credit hours, however, so that they can sit for the CPA.  Meg already had earned 102 credits thus far thanks to the extra classes that she took online during the coronavirus pandemic.  Thus, Meg had some options - graduate a year early without having an internship and with only 120 hours, graduate a semester early with an internship and 150 hours, or add a major and graduate in May of 2023.  

I thought the best plan of action was to call Meg tonight and explain this to her.  Nick had plans to graduate in December 2022 and I thought that maybe they wanted to discuss her options as well.  Doug decided that he would listen in on speaker as she and I talked so that he would also be a part of the discussion.  Before I talked to Meg about her graduation plans, I let her know that Doug was on the line as well.  She instantly started bawling as soon as I talked about graduating early.  She didn't even hear me bring up any other options.  She had felt that her college life had already been cut short with the time at home during lockdown and the online class structure of last year.  She felt like she had just started to feel like she was in college this semester and didn't want to give that up so soon.  

Once she calmed down I talked to her about the option of meeting with her advisor, adding the business law and ethic majors to her transcript like she had talked about and staying until May of 2023.  She definitely liked that option the best, but wanted to talk to Nick first.  She called back a little later to let me know that they liked that advice best and she had already scheduled an appointment with her advisor for Tuesday.  She also wanted me to know that she only cried because Dad was on the phone.  She said "Why is Everything So Much More Stressful When Dad's Involved?"  

Cameron laughed when he heard her say that.  I realized from Cam's reaction and Meg's statement that she was probably right.  Cal had even texted me tonight so that I could tell Doug to stop using his Spotify account as he needed it for the drive to Indy.  He thought that Dad would listen better to me.  He was correct and I solved the problem immediately.  Doug laughed when I told him that all of this was actually  my fault.  I had used him as the "heavy" so much over the years that the Heinisch children were always nervous when he was involved.  He said, "If it makes them more successful in life, I don't mind being the bad guy."  So glad that he feels that way.  

Internship Season

These past two weeks have been very stressful for Meg.  In addition to starting classes in person for the first time in over a year, she has also had to learn how to navigate the Kelley career services (a.k.a. Handshake) in order to find an accounting internship for next summer.  It seems extremely early to start this process as most position do not start until late May or early June of 2022, but it really isn't according to the business school. Kelley already has companies asking for applications and even had their first accounting networking night this evening.  

Meg was pretty overwhelmed when she started the process, but felt a lot better about everything today.  Last weekend she updated her resume and researched companies.  Last night she attended an information session with one company and met with five recruiters tonight via Zoom.  She had applied for at least four positions by the end of the evening and had several more lined up for tomorrow.  I have tried to be supportive, but do not know a lot about getting a job in the business world.  Thankfully, Doug had a few ideas for her to help her get started and Cal filled in the gaps along the way.  Meg hasn't always appreciated living in her brother's shadow, but definitely did tonight.  The Plante Moran recruiter knew who he was and strongly encouraged her to apply with their company as well.  As stressful as it was to start, Meg felt pretty good about the process this evening.  Hopefully, some interviews will follow soon and she will have a plan for the upcoming summer.  

Weight Loss Success With An Added Bonus

Last January I decided that I wanted to work on losing weight in the new year.  As I didn't really want to disrupt the daily meal plan that we had at home, I decided instead to first increase my exercise time and reduce my portion sizes.  It worked well, but took a lot longer to lose weight than it had in the past.  Over a four month period I had only lost seven pounds.  As my goal was 30 pounds overall, I decided to talk to the doctor about it.

Dr. Freeze felt that the best plan was to check and see if I was insulin resistant.  She said that could be causing the difficulty that I found trying to lose weight.  My A1C blood test confirmed her suspicion and she gave me a choice, either take medication that would lower my pre-diabetic results but cause severe intestinal difficulties or try a low carb diet.  It was an easy choice and I started Weight Watchers on April 11th with the goal to lose 23 more pounds.  Last week was the moment of truth as my A1C blood work returned at a normal level.  I was extremely happy about that, but even more proud when I received my Weight Watchers "goal" pin in the mail days later.

Overall, I didn't really think that much about how the weight loss had affected me physically.  I definitely was able to walk further and exercise harder than when I started. I also noticed that I looked a little thinner from the December pictures that I had just put into the 2020 photo album.  The best payout happened today, however, as I cleaned out my dresser and closet in anticipation of fall weather.  I tried on everything I owned and couldn't believe the difference in how my clothes fit.  Pants that I couldn't even put on last January now fit perfectly.  I even had a few pairs that were too big that I had to box up for Goodwill.  There was a pair of shorts and jeans that I hadn't even taken the tags off of as I gained weight shortly after I bought them.  The best feeling was when I tried on a pair of dress pants that I hadn't been able to wear in more than three years.  They fit perfectly.  What an awesome bonus to losing weight - it was almost like getting a whole new wardrobe for free.