A Funday Sunday

             


Our day started at 11 a.m. mass this morning with Meg as lector, Cam as altar server and Doug ushering.  Meg and Doug got a kick out of Cam's facial expression when he realized that he hadn't rung the bell, but he corrected it immediately and all went well.  Doug made pancakes and eggs afterward for those who did not want leftovers.  Robyn and Mike stopped by with Winston before Cal and Brett headed out.  They had items for Hannah-Marie since she couldn't come home this weekend.  She went with the IU Civic Leadership group to visit the EPA in Washington D.C. for fall break.  It was nice talking with them.

Once the boys left Meg, Cam and I went to Fashion Farm to check out the pumpkin display in Fantasyland.  The theme was space and we thought that the pumpkins were a lot better than last year.  We then went to corn maze.  The corn was much taller than we expected, so Cam and Meg took a turn through it.  Even with all of the people walking through, they had fun.  We stopped for ice cream and pumpkins on the way out.

I talked Doug into going with me to see "A Star is Born" this afternoon.  It had gotten great reviews and I really wanted to see it.  It was even better than I thought it would be, leaving me in tears the last forty-five minutes of the movie.  Doug didn't cry, but he said that it was definitely sad.  We were both glad that we got a chance to see it.  Afterward Cam and Meg met us at Hacienda for dinner.  Normally, Doug says no when we suggest it as a dinner choice, but tonight he was alright with it as a celebration of the end of a quarter, soccer and a very long week.  It was a fantastic way to end a wonderful family weekend.

             

Saturday

We all had different ideas of what our Saturday should look like in the Heinisch family and each one of us felt satisfied with the choices made for the day.  Cam had a chess tournament at Bethany that took up the majority of his morning and afternoon.  He started off his day well earning his first win of the day in a grueling one and a half hour match.  He finished 4-1 overall which put him at 3rd place in the reserve section out of 38 opponents.  

Doug was able to make it to several of his matches including the last two.  He also had time to spend several hours at work.  With the new CEO's arrival, the three day sales meeting last week, a new account manager starting, month end to finish and the budget due he will be absolutely swamped next week.  It was nice that he had time today to get a jump start on it all.

Meg slept in this morning and then headed to Fairfield to pick up Jackie.  They went to Maria's for lunch and also hung out here for awhile.  They were able to catch the first 30 minutes of the boys sectional soccer final before it was called for lightening.  Bethany was up 1-0, so Meg plans to return Monday night to see the end of the game.  

Brett, Cal and I were home most of the day.  Cal did run over to see Winston for awhile in the morning and took him for a walk.  He spent the afternoon catching up on college football and resting from his long week of tests.  I watched quite a few of the games with him.  Brett popped upstairs several times during the day to give us updates on his homework, video game playing and the gigantic fly that kept buzzing around his head.  By dinner he was pleased with how much homework he had completed and was also happy to announce that he solved the fly issue as well.  

Tonight was spent watching the IU vs. Ohio State football game.  The game was a lot closer than we expected with IU jumping out to an early lead.  In the end no one was too disappointed with the loss. Doug made macaroni & cheese and chicken curry for dinner tonight.  Grandma and Grandpa joined us and brought delicious desserts along with everyone's favorite - sweet gherkins.  Cal headed to Cameron Adams' house afterward and Meg studied for the SAT while everyone else played "Oh Hell!" ending a great day in the Heinisch home.

Fall Break

Cal and Brett arrived home this afternoon thankful for fall break.  Although they always have Fridays off, Cal had just finished all of his midterms for I-Core and was ready for a break.  Brett had a lot of studying still to do, but he decided he'd much rather do that at home.  I was very happy to see them both when they pulled in the driveway.  Cal had plans to hang out on the couch most of the afternoon, watching television and visiting with Grandma and Grandpa.  Brett said that he was starving.  As I hadn't eaten lunch either, he and I headed straight to Peterson's once he brought in his laundry.

It was an early release day for Meg and Cam.  I picked up Cam at 2:30 so he could come straight home and challenge Cal to a game of IU checkers.  Meg used her extra time to catch up with Aaron at Starbucks.  Later in the evening she and Preston went to dinner in Warsaw and to a haunted house on the fair grounds.  They were glad to spend some time together as they hadn't seen each other since he left in August.

Doug arrived home at 5 this evening from his three day business trip to Indy.  He met the new CEO, sat in our sales meetings, gave several presentations and enjoyed a night of go-kart racing.  I had missed him quite a bit this week and was glad that he made it back safe and sound.  Cam had to be back at Bethany at 5:30 to set up for the chess tournament tomorrow.  After that he had a band concert which Brett, Cal, Doug, Mom, Dad and I were able to attend.  The band sounded great and afterward we celebrated the end of the week with dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.

A Disappointing End to a Great Career

Meg's soccer career officially ended tonight at the sectional semi-finals at Westview.  In saying that it truly ended for her about a month ago when her coach told her that he "wanted to give more playing time to those who didn't come in the summer so that they could catch up."  We realized then that her hard work in the offseason and her performance on the field didn't really matter.  Thus, last night her skill at passing, nine goals and five assists sat on the bench with her as she watched her high school career come to an end when Westview scored with three minutes to go in double overtime.

It would be easy to dwell on the disappointments that she had endured these past two years - the lack of support when she transferred, being completely ignored on the bench and the dwindling playing time in a sport inwhich she had preformed well.  It would also be easy to argue with those who said "she scored those nine goals in easy games" by reminding them that  "she scored two goals against LCA who was one of the best teams that we played" or that "only one other player scored more than her with no one else even close."  Those comments would fall on deaf ears, however, and in the end would not make anyone feel better.

Therefore, I have quickly turned to the positives of Meg playing soccer for the past fourteen seasons. From the time she got stung by a bee after eating an snow cone at halftime and wore a bandaid on her lip so she could keep playing to the two LYC championships she was instrumental in helping to win.  She scored the very first Wawasee middle school girls goal and left Wawasee as their second leading scorer.  This year she was voted captain, finished as the second leading scorer and made a multitude of friends along the way.  The best part of Meg playing soccer, however, was the bond that she created with her Dad.  They created so many positive memories across the years and I will be forever thankful that he could be her coach for as long as he was.  I thoroughly loved seeing them on the field together.  No one can take that away.

One Last Project

The last year that I taught I spent quite a bit of time making a mental list of all of the projects that I wanted to complete after I resigned my position.  From eating healthy to cleaning out the bedrooms, the list was long, but it kept me motivated on my most frustrating days at school.  As soon as June hit and my summer began I started on my list.  Since June 3rd I have accomplished much - 10,000+ steps a day, eating healthy, the 2016 photo album complete, the basement picked up, the mudroom organized, Meg and Cam's rooms cleaned out, school binders done, and so much more.  Yesterday I finished one more project - cleaning out the spare bedroom upstairs.  I had originally planned on making it into Cal's room.  Since Brett hasn't been home much and Cal prefers the basement bedroom, I changed it into a guest room.  With the guest room now cleaned I realized that I was down to my last project from my mental list of last year and I started on that tonight - the 2017 photo album.

Once I realized that I was close to completing this list, true to my personality, I started another one.  In fact I already have several projects in mind for the winter and even next fall including painting, deep cleaning, job searching with Brett and getting ready for Meg's graduation.  The best part of finishing my current list was not that I could move on to another, but the fact that I felt as thought I was finally finished with my teaching days.  With the list I created last year to help me get through the long days of school complete, I will no longer think to myself "when I quite teaching I want to finish . . ."  Instead I will just be content with my daily to-do list as a mom and wife.

Sad News

I found out today that one of my former student's committed suicide last night by stepping in front of a train.  That was tough to hear.  I thought a lot of my time with him as a teacher in middle school while I was out walking this afternoon.  He was in my room multiple times a day working on FACS projects, meeting with his academic advisor and just hanging out.  He also spent quite a bit of time in the room next to mine where he ate lunch everyday and got support when needed.  I knew that he had struggles inside and outside of school.  Thus, I wasn't too surprised when they finally released his name,  I still felt bad that we couldn't have done more for him.  

As sad as I was to hear of his death, what surprised me most was how relieved I was that I was no longer teaching.  While I was at school I worked hard to mentor students that were most in need of it. I knew from the aftermath of my brother's death that a teacher could really make a difference when life got tough for a child.  Until I quit teaching, however, I didn't realize how emotionally draining that part of my job really was.  I worried about my students continually.  I hoped through my work that I could make a long term difference, but the chance of that was not high.   I knew that many of these students would have lifelong struggles and I was really only helping them through the day.  One time when I was working with an extremely challenging situation, Mr. Voirol told me that sometimes that helping someone through the day was the best we could do.  He was right.  Therefore, I will chose to think about the good days that this student had in middle school instead of his tragic end.

Out of the Normal

I did not feel well at all today.  That has been a rarity since I quit school.  In the past few years, I actually spent the majority of my days feeling terrible, so the fact that this has been the first time since June I will take it.  I was proud of how well I made it through the day.  Meg woke up with a migraine, so I had to take Cam.  Once I got back, I unloaded the dishwasher and then headed out the door for a walk.  When I got back, Meg was up and getting ready to go to school.  She ate an early lunch here before she left.  Once I talked to Doug I decided to take a nap and see if I felt better.  It did help and I was able to work in the yard with him this evening.  I am hoping tomorrow's a better day overall, but if not, I won't complain.  These days are few and far between now.