Hurricane Ian

Several women from Winco were in Indiana last week for work.  They told Doug that there was a hurricane predicted during his next trip to Ocala and that he might want to reschedule.  They were worried about the lack of power and internet services that usually came along with a storm of that magnitude.  Doug asked me what I thought as I had been following the storm.  I knew that Ocala was not in the path of the storm but could get up to two feet of rain from it.  He was flying out on Saturday after Cameron's Wabash tourney, so he had to decide well before it made landfall.  That made Doug's decision even more difficult.  

In the end Doug decided to go ahead with his original plan.  He arrived on Saturday night without any issues.  Sunday he worked and then enjoyed hanging out at Infinite Ale for the evening.  By Monday morning we realized that the predicted hurricane was definitely going to make landfall in Florida although meteorologists were still unsure of where it would hit.  The most likely spot was Tampa Bay which was less than 100 miles away from Ocala.  I strongly encouraged him to fill up with gas as they were starting to evacuate Tampa Bay residents with most coming straight up I-75.  Thus, there were already long lines and shortages south of Doug.   We did discuss having him move his Wednesday morning trip home to Tuesday, but there weren't a lot of flights available.  Instead Doug decided to move that flight to Friday afternoon and buy supplies and keep his portable charger full to ride out the storm.  

Thankfully, all of our planning worked out well for Doug.  He had a safe place to weather the hurricane, had plenty to eat and drink and even made it through without losing power or internet.  The storm shifted south and actually hit Fort Myers Beach instead.  That in turn moved the rain predicted for Ocala to Orlando.  Although it was fortunate for Doug and those living in Marion County, the change in path made for some horrible destruction in Fort Myers Beach with widespread homes and property destroyed as well as close to 100 casualties.  Those who evacuated from Tampa to Orlando were met with parking lots underwater, cars flooded and trees uprooted.  The Orlando Airport was closed from Wednesday morning until noon on Friday.  Thus, we felt extremely fortunate that Doug was able to fly out on Friday afternoon.  He had only been gone a week, but it sure felt longer when he walked in the house tonight.  

Ten Years of Tennis Come to An End

After ten years and eleven seasons the Heinisch family said goodbye to high school tennis tonight.  We had hoped that Cameron would be able to extend the season just a little longer by making it to the singles sectional, but a top #1 doubles court on a 20-0 Goshen team had other ideas.  Cameron and Breece fought hard and made the match close, but in the end fell short at 6-4, 6-3.  In true Heinisch tradition they were the last team on the court commanding a full audience.  Even with the loss and the bittersweet end of high school tennis, Cameron was all smiles afterward.  It had been a roller coaster of a season for him, but in the end he was extremely proud of how much he had grown and how well the team had played this year overcoming several adversities.  

As I drove home tonight I thought a lot about the Cal, Meg and Cameron playing tennis.  All three had taken lessons during their youth and Cameron had even played on the middle school tennis team with Matt from 5th to 8th grade.  Even with all of the time devoted to tennis, I still wouldn't call us a "tennis family."  They loved playing, but it definitely was not any of the threes #1 sport.  They played because they enjoyed it, had friends on the team and liked to keep busy.  All were valid reasons to participate in a high school sport.  

Even if it wasn't their number one sport, I could easily say that it was my number one sport to watch.  I have so many wonderful memories of their time on the court.  Cal's two hour and fifty minute three set win against Whitko his sophomore year was a highlight, as was Meg's first NLC win at #1 singles ironically on the same court where Cameron played his last match.  Meg and Cal both being named MVP in the same year at Wawasee.  The three of them driving their opponents crazy by yelling "No" after every missed shot or serve.  Cameron's comeback win against Northwood's #1 singles last year, being down 5-0 and then finishing the match with a 7-5, 6-0 victory.  The win was not only impressive, but the confidence that he gained that night carried him through his junior and senior season.  The eight year relationship he built with Matt on the tennis court was truly a joy to watch as well.  

I never planned on us being the "team mom", but was really glad that we signed up for the role.  It made the last year of high school tennis even more fun.  As sad as I was that it was all over, I thought about the words that Roger Voirol told me when Cal quit playing basketball, "It had to end sometime."  He was right then and still right today.  Thankfully, it ended on a high note and added to our special memories of the Heinisch children playing high school tennis.

Tennis Sectionals Round 1

Tonight was the first round of sectionals for the Bethany Bruins.  Their opponent was Northwood, who they beat 4-1 in the regular season.  Even though they won a few weeks ago, everyone was still nervous about this evening's match.  Bethany's sectional lineup was different from what it was on September 9th.  Due to Oscar's injury and inability to play tennis for most matches, Cameron had played half of his matches at #1 singles this season and the other half at #1 doubles.   It had been a hard adjustment for Cameron at first, but once he did, he played both positions well and helped his team to key wins during the season.  For sectionals, Matt felt that his best lineup was to put Cameron at #1 doubles with Breece and to move the rest of the singles players up.  It made for strong #1 courts, but slightly weaker #2 and #3 singles.  The #2 doubles remained the same, but they had gone to three sets to win in a hard fought match the last time.  Thus, everyone knew tonight's match would be tough.

There was another thought on everyone's mind that was a lot bigger than tennis.  Matt's family had had an emotionally exhausting week following a tragic accident.  Supporting Matt was a priority and added a little bit of pressure on the magnitude of the match.  Of course Matt wouldn't be disappointed if they lost, but it sure would be nice to get a win for him.  We were so glad that he felt well enough to coach this evening.

Tonight's match started off as expected.  Noah easily won against Northwood's #1 and was the first one off of the court.  Cameron and Breece started a little slower, but soon found themselves with three first set points at 5-2.  They lost that game, but never looked back from there, winning the next seven games in a row to finish the match at 6-3, 6-0.

There was some relief when Cameron and Breece walked off of the court.  Even if the team lost, they would move on with Noah to the individual state sectional tournament.  As nice as that sounded, we all hoped that the team would win.  The next three matches were tense ones.  The #2 doubles team along with #2 singles both went to a third set.  While they were playing, Ian was still in his second set on the #3 singles court.  He won a tight first set 7-5 and was in a back and forth rally in the second one.  Fortunately, he held on and won 6-4 to close out a victory for Bethany.  It was an exciting win for him and a wonderful win for the team.  Unfortunately, the other two courts lost, but overall it was a fantastic night for the Bruins and a fabulous way to honor a beloved coach.  Next up is Goshen.  It would be a tall order to beat them as they finished 20-0 in the regular season, but worrying about that can wait for tomorrow.

"Mom, I'm Freezing!"

Cal texted me last night rethinking his decision to live in Chicago.  He was at the Cubs game with his work group and said that it was absolutely freezing.  I empathized with immediately as it had been drizzly, cold and windy here all day.  I told him that I was actually so cold that I was debating if I'd rather be here or in Florida with Doug prepping for a hurricane.  He wouldn't go that far, just wanted his bed and space heater.  Thankfully, I had my fireplace on and was sitting next to it.

Cal wasn't the only one that was cold these past few days.  Meg was dressed in full winter clothing - jeans, layers and sweaters.  She was just as annoyed as I was that we went from shorts and t-shirts to winter wear totally skipping long sleeve shirts and capris, which was definitely my favorite clothing style.  Hopefully, that type of weather will return next week and stay for a little while.

A bigger shock to me than Cal and Meg's feelings on the cold snap, came from Brett.  He said that it was finally cold enough for him to turn off his air conditioning.  His apartment reached a low of 63 degrees which actually made him turn on his heat.  He planned to keep it set at 67 degrees, a warm up from his normal temperature setting.  I doubt the heat stays on too long for him.  He definitely likes it a lot colder than I do.  I guess for now, my fireplace here will just get a good workout this week.

What a Tragedy

We received an email mid-morning to let us know that there was an accident at Bethany this morning.  As I hadn't heard anything from Cameron, I was a little surprised.  I read through the email and instantly became sick to my stomach.  The school's technology director had been hit by a car in the parking lot this morning and had to be airlifted to Memorial Hospital.  I texted Meg right away to let her know.  She called as soon as she got out of class feeling absolutely awful.  Peter had always been nice to her and her classmates.  As were were talking she happened to see her priest on campus, so she went to him for prayers for all involved. 

While Meg was with her priest, I texted Cameron to see how he was doing.  He said that he felt terrible for Peter and Matt's families.  I hoped that the answer to my next text "Was Matt the one who hit him?" was no, but unfortunately it was not.  Blinded by the sun, Matt never saw Peter step in front of him.  The news was just terrible and continued to get worse.  Peter died from his injuries shortly before noon.  

I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about the accident.  I thought about Peter's family, especially his grandchildren.  I thought about Matt and his children witnessing the accident.  I thought a lot about the Bethany community knowing that there were several doctors and nurses on staff that were involved in trying to save Peter.  The sadness of it all was almost too much.  Matt had been extremely supportive of Cameron over the past few months.  I couldn't even imagine the pain he was going though.

I talked with Meg and Cameron later in the day.  They both mentioned the "Bethany curse."  I agreed that there had been a lot of tragedies in the Bethany community over the past few years.  I didn't know if there were more or less than in other schools, but I did realize that the size and closeness of the staff, students, and families at Bethany made the tragedy felt more deeply.  Ultimately, I told them both that I do not believe that there is a "curse" on Bethany.  Instead I believe that God knows that there will be tragedies in these families lives and He brings them to Bethany so that they will have a supportive community to help them through the tough times.  I don't know if I am right or if I am wrong, but it does give me peace.  

"That's What You Get for Being a Lions Fan"

The weather was miserable today, so we stayed home, played cards and watched football.  Cameron was the big winner at cards, but not so much with football.  His beloved Lions led the entire game only to make a horrendous play call late in the game giving the ball back to the Vikings in time to score one last touchdown to win the game.  Adding insult to injury for Cameron, the Bears pulled out a narrow win against the Texans.  Cameron complained about the games later to his Dad.  Doug listened for a little bit, but then quickly added, "That's what you get for being a Lion's fan."  Cal agreed wholeheartedly.  If the Lions poor play continues and the Bears fall apart as Cal has predicted, it might be a long NFL football season in the Heinisch home.  

Wabash Invitational

Today was the Wabash Tennis Invitational.  Cameron was excited for the tournament as they had won last year and he liked their chances this season as well.  Besides Wabash and South Adams, a new team had been added.  Cameron didn't know a lot about Taylor, but felt confident anyway.  He would be spending the day at number one doubles with Breece and was positive that they would go 3-0.  

The day started off chilly.  Grandma and I didn't even get out of the car because of the temperatures and wind.  Fortunately, Breece and Cameron played on the court right in front of our car.  Whether we were inside or out, the game was super fun to watch.  The boys played extremely well against Taylor and won easily.  The rest of the team followed suit and walked off of the courts 5-0 in their first match.  

Before the second match started, Doug and I took a walk around Wabash Middle School.  I told my mom to call us if Cameron and Breece were on the court again before we got back.  We weren't gone very long, so I was surprised when she called to let us know that Cameron was playing again.  As soon as she said it was with Tristan, I realized what had happened.  She thought Emerson was Cameron.  That definitely was funny, but not the first time that someone's grandparent had confused Cameron for Emerson or vice versa.

Bethany played Wabash in the second round.  It was a repeat for Cameron and Breece as they played extremely well again, winning easily.  The rest of the matches were closer than the first round.  Bethany hung on to beat Wabash 4-1, narrowly losing the #2 doubles court and winning the #3 singles court with an impressive 11-9 third set tiebreak score.  The last match of the day was the most competitive for #1 doubles.  South Adams played the best that they could taking a few games from Bethany, but overall Cameron and Breece were just too much for them.  Bethany won the remaining courts with #2 doubles coming back from a 2-5 deficient to win in a tiebreak.  The boys won the tournament for the third year in a row.  The day that started chilly and uncertain ended up a beautiful one that we all enjoyed.   

 

 

Homecoming

Bethany decided to have a homecoming this year for the first time.  As a senior, Cameron was lukewarm about the idea.  He did participate in several of the activities including the spirit week dress themes.  He hosted a senior night at our home devoted to working on the class float.  He also made plans to attend all of the senior sports recognition nights and hoped to go to as many home sporting events as possible this week.

Tonight was the activity that he was most looking forward to attending - the homecoming dance.  He made plans to go with Alina.  They coordinator their outfits perfectly, her with a navy dress, him wearing all black with a black and blue bow tie.  When he got home tonight, he said that he had had a lot of fun.  We were very glad to hear that.

The only homecoming activity that we were able to attend that was not tennis related was the cross country senior recognition night.  It was nice to hear all of the speeches that Benji gave tonight, especially the one about coaching Samuel.  Once the recognition was over, Doug and I headed to Goshen Brewing Company to meet Mary and Ken.  They love the restaurant as much as we do, so it was the prefect place to get together.  We caught up over dinner and a few drinks, thoroughly enjoying the night.  It wasn't a Bethany homecoming event, but it was a wonderful activity for us during such a busy week.  

Happy Fall Y'All

Today was the first day of fall and it definitely felt like it.  Up until now we have had summer like weather with temperatures in the mid eighties.  Thus, today felt even colder than its upper fifty degree highs.  Between going for a walk and watching Bethany play Elkhart in tennis, I was absolutely freezing by the end of the evening.  I didn't even hesitate to turn on the heat and start all of the fireplaces when we got home from Goshen.  I knew fall was coming as we had noticed that one of our oak trees had started to turn colors, but I wasn't quite ready for the change.  Guess next on my to do list is to put away the shorts and pull out the sweaters.  After looking at next week's forecast, I am going to need them.

Doesn't Make Sense to Me

Tonight a friend of mine texted me about a situation that she was having with a teacher/coach.  I wasn't surprised to hear that this person was being a jerk to her child and others.  I had had one run in with this person in the past and had steered clear ever since then.  I also knew that this teacher had spread gossip about another one of my children's friends.  Therefore, I instantly texted my friend back to let her know that we supported her and her family and that we were sorry that this person was not being kind.

This hasn't been the first time as a parent that we have heard of educators, coaches or even other parents being mean to children.  I have never understood that.  Being mean to a child just doesn't make sense to me.  They don't have the ability to defend themselves.  Thus, they are more susceptible to suffering long term damage such as low esteem and self hatred if they are treated poorly in their youth.  I wish that more adults understood that.  Instead it must fall upon the rest of us to be supportive and kind to those children who most need it.   Support was all that I could offer my friend tonight.  I hope that was enough.  

Uncle Jack

Today was my Uncle Jack's memorial service.  My mom, dad and I were all able to be there.  The service was very nice with a lot of family members, friends and church members in attendance.  The pastor did a fantastic job of adding a little bit of humor to the day while still reflecting on the seriousness of the event.  He encouraged everyone to share stories and memories.  Those were really nice to hear.  The service lasted about 45 minutes, ending just before a downpour started.  

I thought a lot about my Uncle Jack's service once I got home.  It was apparent that his immediate family was very sad.  I remembered feeling the same way when my PawPaw died, so I could completely relate to them.  Although I felt bad that they were hurting, this service for me was a lot easier to attend than when my cousin Mark died.  Uncle Jack had lived a full life during his 82 years on this planet.  Mark wasn't much older than I am now when his life was cut short by a drunken driver.  It was harder to find peace with his death.

I shared all of this with Meg today and also the concern that everyone had about my Aunt Bev's health.  There were a lot of opinions about what my aunt should do going forward to prolong her own life.  Meg said that Father Patrick was talking to her group at church last Sunday about the same topic.  He said that Catholics were not just Pro Life, but Pro Quality of Life.  The church understood refusing treatment to prolong life if a person so desired.  The church felt that quality of life at the end was extremely important.  I felt really good about hearing that as I would agree with Father Patrick.  Everyone should have the right to chose when to fight and when to say enough.  For now, I'm just glad that no one in our family has to make that choice.    

Senior Night

When we received this year's Bethany's boys' tennis schedule, one date stood out in my mind.   September It wasn't because we had to play Fairfield.  Those had always been close matches, but that didn't really bother me.  What left a pit in my stomach was the fact that Monday, September 119th was senior night.  As there were only two senior boys on the team, I knew that it would be a lot of work.  That didn't stress me out, however.  It was the fact that Doug would be at a board meeting in Toronto and I would be there all by myself.  Even though he wasn't at Meg's senior night and it went well, I was just positive that Cameron's senior night would be a disaster.  I think the thought of feeding close to sixty people at the end of the match, keeping the food hot, getting up in front of everyone all by myself just seemed too overwhelming.

Thankfully, the night went off without a hitch.  Doug made brats and macaroni and cheese yesterday before he left, so all I had to do was put them in a crockpot.  I set aside five hours today to get all of the cold items ready and my Mom helped with the prep work.  Matt said that we could put the food in his room to keep warm/cold as needed and I made plans to arrive early to get everything set up before the match.

Cameron and Breece did their part to make senior night memorable as well.  They played a close two set match against a tough #1 doubles team.  We were all impressed with their shot selection and net play.  Cameron served exceptionally well and they won in front of a large crowd filled with their friends, family and teachers.  We found out later that this same team had already beaten Goshen and Westview, which made their win even more impressive.

We had quite awhile to wait until the time for honoring seniors began, but it was well worth it.  Matt gave such heartwarming speeches that Cameron and I both teared up during his.  It had been a wonderful four years of tennis and we appreciated that Matt had recognized that.   The best part of the night for me, however, was listening to Cameron talk about the event with his Dad once we got home.  He was extremely appreciative of how special the evening really was.

A Weekend in Syracuse

Several months ago, Cal asked us if it would be alright if he brought a few of his IU/Chicago friends home for a weekend of fun in Syracuse.  We got together with him and came up with a few dates that worked in our schedule and his.  We all agreed on this weekend as the perfect one for him to host a gathering at our home.

Cal arrived Friday night with close to ten of his friends in tow.  Some had ridden from Chicago with him, others had showed up on their own a little later.  He even had a few that were flying in tomorrow morning.  Doug and I had fun catching up with Jayce, Cameron, Mark and David.  We also enjoyed reconnecting with several of his IU friends and meeting his new roommate, Nolan.  Doug had built a bonfire for the guys and they spent the majority of the evening in the backyard.  Doug said that it was still going strong at 2 a.m. when he got up to check on it.

Reconnecting with their high school roots, the boys spent Saturday morning playing basketball at the Lakeland Youth Center.  Cal said that it was a lot of fun, even if he was out of shape.  Doug made a crockpot of brats for them before we left for Portage which made for a nice lunch break.  The afternoon was spent on Lake Wawasee.  Cal had rented the Nauty Mule for their group.  They toured the lake, drank some beer and swam at the sand bar for several hours.  I was so thankful that the weather cooperated with their plans.  I wasn't sure how a September day on the lake would turn out, but it was sunny and in the mid-80s all afternoon.  The only negative part of the day was when Jayce lost his temporary tooth in the lake during a game of catch.

After showering and catching up with Grandma and Grandpa at their house, the guys then walked down to the Frog for their evening activities.  They spent the rest of the evening dancing, playing games and enjoying all that the popular local hangout had to offer.  Grandma and Grandpa doubled as Uber drivers this weekend and dropped them off at our house a little after midnight last night.

Cal was up early this morning and we got to visit with him before the boys packed up to leave.  Several of Cal's friends thanked us for hosting them.  I looked at Jayce and Cal and said, "Hey, this is just a throwback to every weekend in the fall of 2015.  The only thing missing was some 1 a.m. knee basketball."  I was definitely sad to see them go, but thankful that they had enjoyed all that Syracuse had to offer and that we got to be a small part of that.

The Portage Invitational

Doug and I spent the majority of today at Portage High School watching the Bethany Bruins tennis team play in an invitational.  Last year, there were only three teams participating.  Thus, we were happy to hear that they had added Triton to the tournament this fall.  Going into today, the boys felt that they had the upper hand.  They had already beaten Triton and were victorious against both Merrillville and Portage last year.  

The day started off well.  Cameron played the #1 doubles spot with Breece against Merrillville to begin the tournament.  They completely dominated the match and were the first ones off of the court winning 6-0, 6-0.  The rest of Bethany's team won in two sets as well and the boys were soon on to their second match, this time playing Triton.  Since Cameron and Breece had dominated the Trojans doubles team in their first match and Triton only had four members on their roster, the boys sat out of this match.  Doug and I used the time to catch up on some reading and take a walk around the area.

Bethany's last match of the day was against Portage.  Cameron played the #1 singles position during this match and after his first set victory, we felt pretty good about his chances of winning.  Cameron started off the second set up 2-1 when everything seemed to change.  His opponent took his game up a notch and just couldn't miss.  In fact he did not have an unforced error throughout the rest of the set.  Cameron soon found himself in a third set tiebreak.  Between his opponent's consistent play and Cameron's struggle to serve in the increased wind speeds, he soon found himself on the wrong side of a third set win.  

Knowing that #1 doubles and #2 singles had already won, we were hopeful that either #3 singles or #2 doubles would win their tiebreaks.  Unfortunately, all of the third sets went Portage's way and the Bruins went home with a disappointing second place finish.  It probably wouldn't have been so upsetting, but the unsportsmanlike conduct of the Portage players and fans was very hard to stomach.  Thankfully, the tennis team had plans to go to lunch together at Buffalo Wild Wings after the invitational.  The team bonding event helped make the sting of the loss a lot better than expected.  

Cameron had great news to report on his way home tonight.  Avery had invited him to work for The Chief at a Concord Band event this evening.  Cameron was able to early $105 on the evening.  That was definitely a great way to end the day.

Music on the Lawn

Today started off super busy.  Cameron had jazz band early, so I was up well before 7 a.m.  Once he left, I took a walk and then showered just before Matthews’ Painting arrived to give us a quote on painting the foyer, stairwell, landing and ceiling in that area.  I had just enough time to clean the kitchen before he finished with his quote.  The price was about double what we thought that it would be, so I decided to call another painting company to get their thoughts.

As soon as the painter left, Cameron arrived.  He had spent part of the morning in Warsaw at the Kosciusko County Foundation office. He had been invited to write an impromptu essay for the Lilly Scholarship.  He felt that it went well and picked up Panda Express for us for lunch to celebrate.  

Once Cameron headed back to Bethany, I spent the afternoon grocery shopping for the weekend and senior night on Monday.  It reminded me of our grocery shopping trips during the pandemic.  The only bad part was that I didn’t have Meg there to help me.  I did end up finding everything that I needed and even picked up a dozen donuts from Rise N Roll for Cal and his friends’ breakfast tomorrow.

Tonight wasn’t quite as busy and definitely was more enjoyable.  It was Bethany’s annual Music on the Lawn fundraiser.  That’s definitely my favorite music program of the year.  We all enjoyed pie, ice cream and a lot of good music.  Everyone did very well, but of course the band was my favorite part.  I especially enjoyed “Moondance” by the jazz band.  We hadn’t told Doug that Cameron would be playing that song.  Doug really liked it as it was one of his favorite Steve Miller Band songs.  

We headed home as soon as the program was over to wait for Cal and his friends to arrive.  It was just before 9:30 p.m. when they pulled in the driveway.  It was nice to meet some of his new friends and to reconnect with Jayce, Cameron Adams, Mark and David.  

Cameron went to Culver’s with his friends after Music on the Lawn.  He had quite a bit to share with us once he got home.  We finished the evening watching some football and preparing for his tournament tomorrow.  Cal and his friends enjoyed a bonfire.  Overall, it was a very nice way to start the weekend after an extremely busy week.  

Just One of Those Days

Today was just one of those days where it felt like nothing could go right.  I knew it wasn’t going to be my favorite day as I had to clean the house, but it just seemed to go from bad to worse.  I started off cleaning the bathrooms which wasn’t fun, but tolerable.  After I finished up Meg’s bathroom, I decided to paint the area that I had repaired with plaster yesterday and to repaint an area on her bedroom wall that she had scraped with her papasan chair years ago.  The second part went very well and covered up nicely.  The bathroom, however, wasn’t as easy.  The paint that we had saved, had turned to sludge.  We had originally painted the bathroom in 2016, so I wasn’t sure that Ace would be able to find a match.  Thankfully, they were able to help me, but it cost me at least a half hour in time that I wasn’t planning on spending.  

The next item on my to do list started off well.  The light kit that I had ordered to repair a ceiling fan arrived four days early.  My dad had the afternoon free and was able to come up and help me with it.  We got everything hooked up, flipped the switch and  . . . nothing.  The light still didn’t work.  By the time Doug called on his way home from work, I was in tears.  I was super disappointed about the light and extremely tired from a long day of projects. By the time we hung up I did feel a lot better as we did came up with another plan that should work.  

I wasn’t the only Heinisch that was a little overwhelmed with their day.  Meg  had spent the afternoon trying to change her test schedule with the disability service coordinator due to a professor error.  That along with the fact that she had also found out that she was being underpaid at her part time job had ruined a good portion of her day.  Brett’s news wasn’t as frustrating, but did send him scrambling to find information.  Fortunately, by the time he headed home from work, he felt a lot better about everything.  Meg was also doing pretty well by the end of the evening.  

Cameron’s day wasn’t too stressful, but we did have quite a few items his on his list to get done once he got home from the boys’ soccer game.  We were able to do that a lot quicker than I thought that we would.  That was really nice.  I was also happy that Cal and Doug had ended their days favorably as well.  One more day until the weekend.  Can’t wait! 

Love My Odyssey

Yesterday, we had to drop the Pilot off at Fred’s Transmission in Elkhart as the transmission light kept coming on, especially in Florida.  Although another mechanic had looked at it and felt it was nothing to worry about, we decided to get a second opinion before Doug drove it to Florida in October.  Thankfully, Fred’s agreed with the first mechanic - a false positive light which they both said was typical for Honda vehicles.

Because Doug and I had to drive to Fort Wayne yesterday from Elkhart, we asked Cameron to take the Civic to school.  I don’t mind driving it, but knew that would be a little far for me in the smaller car.  Therefore, I spent yesterday driving the Odyssey.  I am not going to lie; I really enjoyed being reunited with my long time van.  I had spent almost nine years driving it and it had been my favorite Heinisch vehicle of all time.  

While I was driving to Elkhart to meet Doug, I realized that there was a good chance that the van was going to hit 200,000 miles while we were in it.  At first I was a little disappointed for Cameron that he wouldn’t be driving it when the milestone was reached.  It dawned on me, however, that I had driven the first 190,000 miles in it and it was only appropriate that I was there when the odometer rolled over to 200,000.  

I watched the dashboard the entire trip home from Portillo’s last night, not wanting to miss the moment.  I even practiced video taping it as Doug drove.  We made it to Old 30 just past Columbia City when the Odyssey official turned to 200,000 miles.  We were all impressed, but it wasn’t the first Honda that had reached that milestone in our family.  Doug’s gray Civic was at 224,000 when it finally died.  We’ll see if the Odyssey can beat it. 

Disappointing Times Two

Last night's tennis match at Bethany with Chesterton was cancelled due to rain.  We weren't surprised at all.  The forecast was absolutely miserable - mid 50's and rain.  Even though the rain didn't start until 4 p.m., it would have been horrible to have Chesterton drive close to two hours just to have the match called.  

Tonight's cancellation was extremely disappointing as the weather forecast called for dry weather.  Making it even worse was the fact that the boys had driven all the way to Kreager Park in Fort Wayne to play Blackhawk Christian and had even warmed up before the light rain started.  It didn't last long, but just enough to cancel the match as the opposing team did not have squeegees or towels to dry up the court once it stopped.  The boys were pretty disappointed, but made the best of it by stopping at The Magic Wand in Churubusco for ice cream.

Doug and I had had a long drive as well.  We had to drop the Pilot off at Fred's Transmission in Elkhart before making the hour and forty-five minute drive to Fort Wayne.  There was one big positive about tonight's match, at least for me.  It was the last time that I had to pick up Subway for a Heinisch child's sports' team EVER!  I didn't mind being responsible for the away team meals, but it definitely was a nice feeling to be done.  Doug and I celebrated with dinner at Portillo's.

Homecoming Float

This will be Bethany's first year hosting a homecoming weekend which will include a dance, a parade and several soccer games.  Cameron wasn't too sure about the event, but he did volunteer to host a work day on their class float at our house.  Thus, last night seven members of the Bethany senior class gathered in our basement to work on their float for homecoming.  They had picked Mario Kart as their theme and came armed with a ton of boxes.  

Cameron and his classmates spent the next 3+ hours printing templates for their Karts and cutting out pieces of the vehicles.  While they were working, Doug and I ordered pizza for them.  We also made a new appetizer, Mexi-Rolls, that seemed to be a hit as well.  It took them a lot longer to cut the cardboard than they planned, but they did get about halfway done before calling it a night.  Samuel was the last to leave, but that was because after everyone else left, he and Cameron turned their attention from homecoming to the Bucs game.  We didn't care how long anyone stayed.  We were just glad that Cameron took advantage of our basement to invite everyone and was happy to hear that they would all be back next Sunday night.  

A Weekend of Upsets

College football started last weekend and this week the NFL season began.  Needless to say there has been a lot of football watching at the Heinisch home.  Thursday started the week off with a relatively boring Bills vs Rams game.  All of that changed yesterday, however, as Saturday was filled with close games and multiple upsets.  For most of the afternoon we thought that #1 Alabama was going to lose to an unranked Texas, but they squeaked out a victory with a last second field goal.  The disappointment of Alabama winning was soon erased when Cal texted our group chat that Notre Dame had lost to Marshall.  We were all thrilled to see that.  The biggest upset of the afternoon was Appalachian State over Texas A & M, but that didn't really bring much emotion from any of us.

The game that we had all been waiting for IU vs. Idaho.  We didn't expect it to be close as the Hoosiers won 52-10 last year.  We set up the projector outside and started a bonfire just as the game was scheduled to begin.  We were surprised to see that the time had changed from 8 to 8:30 p.m.  Meg called and said that it was due to the heavy rains that they were getting.  I hadn't thought of that as our day had been sunny and warm.  The delay gave us time to watch Kentucky at the University of Florida.  Last week the Gators were the talk of the college sports world as they had beaten UTEP.  Unfortunately, this was not the case tonight as they lost a close one to the Wildcats.  

The IU game was definitely a wet one.  The students were drenched and the field was soaked.  We had talked about going to Bloomington tonight.  After seeing the videos, I was glad that we decided to stay home.  It would have been a soggy tailgate.  The other issue was the Hoosiers' play in the first half.  It was embarrassing as we missed two field goals and found ourselves down 10-0 going into the locker room.  I started to really regret that I had made fun of Notre Dame for losing as I was sure that we were next on the upset list.  Thankfully, IU turned it around in the third quarter and took control of the game eventually winning 35 - 22.  

Today's football viewing began with the Bears game which looked like it was being played in a monsoon.  It was hard just to see the field.  It must have worked in Chicago's advantage as they upset the 49ers.  That win, along with the Vikings walking all over the Packers and the Buccaneers victory made for a great weekend of football.  Cameron even won his fantasy football game, which might have been the highlight for him.  All in all it was a great weekend for the football fans in the Heinisch family.

Long Live the Queen

Meg texted our family group chat on Thursday to let us know that Queen Elizabeth had died.  I shouldn't really have been surprised as she was 96 years old, but I guess I was.  She had already outlived the leaders of my childhood including Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev, so I think I believed she was immortal.

The rest of the week I received numerous stories on my news feed about the Queen and the Royal Family. If I wanted to read them all I would have learned who was with her when she died, when Prince Charles would become the King of England and the news roles of all of her family.  I also could have looked at countless Tweets and Memes on social media about the Queen's death.  Instead, I let Cameron share his favorites with me.  We both enjoyed the one pointing out that the Queen died on the same day that the NFL season started meaning that "the US was back, baby."

Overall, I realized that I hadn't really followed the Royal Family for years.  I knew that Prince Harry and his wife were on the outs with the family and that there were rumors that Prince William had cheated on his wife.  I also saw pictures of Prince William's children, but I guess I just wasn't that interested.  My mom gave me a People magazine that she had received in the mail.  It had memories of Princess Diana in it as she had died 25 years ago last week.  I thought a lot about how famous she really was.  Her wedding was viewed by millions.  She was constantly in the news with stories of her humanitarian aid, the birth of her children, the poor treatment she received by Prince Charles and their subsequence divorce.  Her funeral was telecasted across the world and Elton John even wrote a song about her for the service.  

After Princess Diana's death, I think I just stopped caring about what the Royal Family was doing.  It's amazing to me that one person seemed to eclipse their entire family in popularity.  Maybe it was because she seemed like a real person, a true life Cinderella story.  It could have also been because she was incredibly beautiful.  Either way, she was the Royal that I followed, so I doubt I will be buying any Queen Elizabeth memorabilia.  I might however finally watch one of the half dozen or so movies made based on her life.  That might be interesting.  

Another Night, Another Three Set Win

Matt asked Cameron to play the #1 singles position tonight as injuries on Bethany's team have made it challenging to maintain the same lineup throughout the season.  Cameron has been flexible wanting to do what is best for the team, but definitely didn't mind the switch tonight as he actually prefers singles.  He told me before the match that he knew nothing about his opponent, but felt pretty good about their chances as a team.  Bethany had beaten Northwood 5-0 last year and were hoping for a similar score tonight.

Although the first set seemed to favor the consistency of the Panther player, we were impressed with how well Cameron kept his composure.  He was struggling with his serve and several double faults hurt him early.  Cameron hung in there, however, and soon found himself in a first set tiebreak.  Much as he and Breece had at Westview, Cameron easily won the tiebreak.  We were thrilled.

The second set was also extremely close as the game and set score didn't change much throughout.  There were long rallies and a lot of deuce games.  Cameron played very well and hit several nice cross court, forehand winners.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough as he fell short in the second set.  Cameron and his opponent took full advantage of the ten minute break in between sets.  While they were resting, we watched the end of the #2 doubles match.  Both Noah and Gideon had won at #2 and #3 singles and #1 doubles were also going into a third set.  We were hoping that Tristan and Emerson would win so that there wouldn't be any pressure on Cameron as he started the third.  Thankfully, they obliged and we were extremely happy for the Bruins to pick up a key win this season over a sectional opponent.

Cameron's third set was even more intense than the first two.  The boys rallied back and forth each taking a lead.  Cameron stayed focused, played very well hitting some fantastic shots, and soon found himself with the score 5-4 in his favor.  He had two set points to win.  He did not convert on the first one, but took full advantage of the second winning the two and a half hour match.  Cameron walked over to his bag after shaking his opponent hand and went down.  His legs were cramping so bad that he couldn't stand any longer.  It took a little while, some ice and a few Ibuprofen, but soon he was up and visiting with Andrew, the Bruins' former assistant coach.  He had moved this year to New York and Cameron had really missed having him at the matches.  Needless to say, he was thrilled that he had watched him tonight.  We found out later that it was a good thing that Cameron won.  Andrew had told his brother, Daniel, to let Cameron know at the end of the second set "That he'd better winner as he hadn't drove all the way from Rochester to watch him lose."  Fortunately, Cameron was more than happy to honor his request.