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.