Bloomington, Here We Come!

I spent a good portion of the morning and early afternoon getting ready to leave for Bloomington.  Cal had tennis practice and Doug had an away soccer game to get through before we could leave.  Meg and Cameron were a big help, and we were ready to pack the van as soon as Doug walked in the door.

The trip down was pretty uneventful.  Cal fell asleep and everyone else listened to music.  Brett was as ready to see us when we got there as we were to see him.  Doug, Cam and Meg made the trek up to his room to have a look.  They all said that Brett was more organized and neat than his roommate.  After that we all took a walk over to Buffalouies, a Bloomington orignial, for dinner.  It was packed and once we sat down the skies opened up to some much needed rain.

We made the hike back to the Union where Cal and Cam decided to take a break in the room.  The rest of us headed to Barnes and Noble and Target.  Brett and Meg each found a book that they were interested in and I braved a monsoon to pick up some trash bags, Crystal Light and Benadryl.  We stopped by Pizza Xpress for breadsticks and Brett joined us in our room.  

It was great to catch up with him.  He missed us as we did him.  We spent the evening asking him a lot of questions.  Brett has met a lot of other students and attended a lot of activities.  He is anxious about his classes as they seem a little too easy and undefined for him.  He gets along well with his roommate and spends a lot of time talking with different people in the dorm.  He attended the Bloomington Farmer's Market and saw a Macaw perched on a bike this morning.  He is signed up to volunteer at the Auditorium and has already lost weight from all of the walking he has done. He left close to 11 p.m.  I asked him to text me when he got back to his room.  He laughed, so I guess he really is independent of us now!!

You Can Sleep When You're Dead

Today started bright and early as I had to drop Cal off at basketball at 5:45 a.m.  Meg, Cam and I were early to school and had a full half day there with classroom projects and a bulletin board to take down and put up anew.  The afternoon was spent at an emergency library board meeting and paying bills.  Then back to school to take Cam and Meg to Goshen for piano lessons.  Meg had a friend coming over, so my Mom graciously said she would meet us there to bring Meg back to hang out with Graham.  I took Cam to practice putt and then waited for his lesson to finish before we made the 25 minute trek home.

Once we got there Meg and Graham were busy crafting.  Cal and Cam left with my Mom to eat dinner.  I got all of the laundry in baskets and had enough time to brush my hair before Doug came home from soccer practice and picking up Cameron's LYC team information as he is coaching that as well.  Once Meg's friends left she decided to head over to Grandma's as well.  We jumped back in the van to take Cal and Jayce to Wawasee's football game in South Bend.  Doug and I had just enough time to eat dinner before the rain and lightning hit.  We picked Cal and Jayce back up.  They decided not to wait out the lightning.  It was only half time and Wawasee was already down 34-0.  We made a stop for ice cream on the hour trip home and enjoyed listening to the boys conversation and antics of the week.

We made it in the door around 10:30 p.m.  I knew I was done for the day and headed straight for my pajamas.  Several times during this exhausting day I kept hearing my Paw Paw say, "You can sleep when you're dead."  That made me laugh and keep going when all my body wanted to do was lie down.

Tennis

Tonight was the end of three tennis matches in a row for the high school team.  They are now 3-2, which means that they have tripled the amount of wins they had from last year.  In the Tuesday night match, Cal beat his opponent in two sets and played pretty well.  His picture was in the paper and a video of the girls volleyball team screaming his name as he was getting ready to serve was posted on a local news website.  The team actually won all five courts that evening which was a great feeling for them.  On Wednesday Cal played his best of the week.  His opponent was the toughest he has played so far.  Although he got out to a lead in both sets, he ended up losing 6-2 and 6-2, but he felt good about how he competed.

Thursday night was a different story for Cal.  He just never seemed to get started.  I know he was frustrated as you could see it on his face.  He lost in two sets and didn't look the tennis player that I know he is.  The coaches talked to him and gave him some tips for the next match and some things to work on.  When I talked to him afterward, he said, "I just started playing bad and I couldn't stop it, no matter how hard I tried."  The team won and there was a home volleyball game afterward, so that took some sting out of the loss.

As a Mom I had a hard time watching him on Thursday.  It wasn't because he was losing, but because it was obvious he was very upset with himself.  I am not upset, however.  High school sports are moments of greatness followed by moments of not.  He stepped up this year to play a third sport that requires a lot of practice and conditioning.  He has been a part of the Varsity squad that is trying to bring tennis back to Wawasee.  We are very proud of him for putting this much effort into it.  Three days of tennis in the 90 degree heat plus early morning basketball and strength training during the day would get to the best of us.  Tuesday is another match.  Looking forward to it.

Brett

I was able to talk with Brett last night.  He sounded very happy which was music to my ears.  He had his second day of classes and was feeling a lot more comfortable with the schedule than the first day.  He had gone to dinner with friends, is signing up to usher at the IU auditorium tonight, met a Buddhist Monk, took his picture by the bust of Wendell Wilkie and saw some friends at mass over the weekend.  Thursday is the first home football game and the new student's get to lead the football team onto the field.  Although he is not an avid fan of the sport, he is signed up and excited to participate in this tradition.

I am thrilled to hear that he is enjoying his first week as a college student.  I knew he would and am impressed that he has found so much to do and met a lot of new friends already.  We are making our annual Labor Day pilgrimage to Bloomington this weekend.  When I reminded him of this, he said, "I'm sure I'll run into you."  That statement made me laugh.  I know he will be glad to see us, but happy that he is not waiting anxiously for us to get there.

Finished

Today I was able to finish cleaning the upstairs.  I know that is not as exciting to my family as it is to me, but we were able to find some lost clothes, move dressers, purge some unused items, hang pictures and dust.  The boys now have enough dresser space that they do not have to live out of their laundry baskets.  I realize that they probably still will, but at least they have the opportunity now to put the multitude of t-shirts they have in a drawer.

Meg did a very nice job cleaning her room.  The added incentive is that she can have a bonfire with her friends in mid-September if it stays that way.  My next goal is to make sure that we do a lot better job of keeping everything semi-picked up, so no one has to spend hours cleaning again.  That is probably wishful thinking, but I'm willing to give it a try!!

Library Board

Tonight was my monthly library board meeting.  I have been president of the board for 4+ years.  I love the library and it has been very important to the Heinisch children.  Brett was still visiting it several times a week before he left for college.  All four attended story time and the eldest was a long time book club member.  Even Doug used to order books on CD to listen to on his long drive to Grabill years ago.

Today, however, I was tired and didn't really want to go.  I was in the middle of a project that I knew I would be able to finish if I just had a couple more hours.  It was also the only night this week that we didn't have other commitments.  Cameron had Cade over and Cal needed a ride to volleyball, so I could have easily made a lot of excuses not to go.  I can count on one hand how many times I have missed over the years.  So , I decided I wouldn't make this one.

On the short drive there, I thought that I would go ahead and let the other board members know that I would like to step down as president at the end of this year.  I have been an actively involved president during my tenure, even meeting with the staff and the landscaper this summer to decide which bushes stayed and which became mulch.  I love being involved, however, I have come to realize over the last few months that the board waits for me to make a decision on most issues and then tends to vote with me.  There is one naysayer on the board, but she just likes to be the antagonist.  No matter what is said, she likes to stir the pot.

As the meeting ended I was glad that I decided to go.  The library is an important part of our small community and I believe that we have a nice one.  I enjoy the board members (minus one.)  Randy and Cyndi were glad to talk of Brett's trek to IU.  We all laughed at the ribbing we gave Mike about getting married after several years a widower.  John was proud to introduce the new library circulation assistant.  With all of the budget cuts, hour reductions and closed libraries we were proud that ours has weathered the storm quite well.

So for now, I will stay in my current position.  Maybe one day someone else would like to take on my roll.  I will gladly pass the baton with pride, happy that we are a pillar of community activity.

So Far So Good

Meg was able to finish her room today, clean her bathroom, complete her homework, write a letter to Grandma Heinisch and pick up the basement.  She may not have liked it, but WOW! did her room look better.  Now the challenge will be to keep it that way!

Cal and Cameron had a great day as well.  They both got to play golf - Cam with Doug and Cal with Sam and Jayce.  Doug and I were able to get several projects done, eat a homemade dinner and even take a walk.

The best news of the weekend, however, has been from Brett.  He's been to a concert, culture fest, new student service day (he helped at the food bank), watched Breaking Away, fame night at the library, pizza party, ice cream social, bought his books, met some friends, went on a midnight trip to Wal-Mart, visited the comic book store multiple times, attended mass and even stopped in an anarchist bookstore.  All of his texts have been upbeat and it sounds as though he is having a great time.  Classes start tomorrow and he said he isn't quite sure he is ready for that.  I am so happy that he is enjoying his first week.  I know there will be challenges ahead, but so far so good!