Falling into my old world

Today I went for a refresher training for the reading specialists at the boy's old elementary. A friend called me to tell me about the training. She had put my name in for me so I could be in on training. The system had been adjusted a little so I had to pay close attention. Consistency is key for these standardized reading tests. The district has a dozen trained reading specialists that travel to every school three times a school year to test every student.

Afterwards, I swung by the district office to fill out my employment papers. I had been hopeful I might still be in the system, but my name had been purged. They will need a copy of my new drivers licence and my social security card. It is lovely to have taken care of those chores already, and know where to find those important documents. I think the DMV gave me my old number back on my license.

Did I tell you I found the titles to my cars and got my new plates. Still need to put them on the cars. The clerk at the title company put the stickers on the plates for me. Now I just need to unscrew the old plates and attach the new ones. I ought to do it while the weather is nice rather than wait for a rainy day. The Titles were in a box that I thought had make up. Instead once I passed the first layer of packing, I found the missing documents from my desk. Now all important items have been located and refiled.

I am now golfing and subbing in for bridge and now subbing in for the school district. It is as if the last five years was a blip in our lives. Now we are back home, back in the lives we had before, down to the job, the play time, and the friends. There is comfort in old habits.

I do miss my friends I left behind and being able to share with them my adventures. I know my boys miss the neighbor children they played with all the time. They loved the bang on the front door, knowing it was more than likely the person on the other side of the door was waiting for them. I like that feeling too when I know that one of my friends is knocking for me.

I am still trying to get down to Portland to look at a sale on hardwood floors, but am finding my calendar is getting booked up. I may have to miss nine holer's golf in order to catch the sale. Which could be a good idea as the blisters from wearing golf shoes that no longer fit my feet after five years are still healing.

Riley, last night said he wished he didn't have to go to school. I asked if it was because he didn't like school or he just wanted summer to continue. I held my breath waiting for the answer, worried there was something wrong. He said he just liked summer to continue, so I breathed again.

Trevor is loving school though he is exhausted by it. We are calling bed time still at 8:15 pm. This is for high school boys. They don't even argue. Trevor is asleep within 20 minutes. He tries to read for a while, but when I went to tell him lights out, he had already turned the reading light out and was asleep. Even Tom is asleep by 9:30 pm.

I am going to try to slip away for a quick weekend at the beach with the boys. Trevor doesn't have football on the weekends. A friend suggested a BBQ Winnie roast at the local beach. I am enamored by the ease of that idea. The boys wanted to watch the big boats go by on the river. We haven't done that since we have been back yet.

We were invited to a local block party. The street up the hill from us has an annual event. The Grand parents who have lived there most of their lives, get together and host a BBQ inviting their children who have grown and moved away back home with the grand children. It is a great way to reconnect for the grown children with their old friends, and for everyone to show off their grand children and children. The City Fire Marshall lives on the block so the fire truck came by for the little children to see and play.

The 90 degree temperature was a little melting, but a wading pool was set up in the yard for the children to splash. My boys went into the house to watch the football game with a couple of other adults where it was air conditioned.

I was proud of the boys as they behaved well and were social with everyone. They were the only teens that came. I had been hoping that other teens might come so the boys could meet more people their own age in the neighborhood. The food was delightful and varied so they didn't mind that they were the only teens. Provide good food and a big TV and my boys are quite content to enjoy themselves and be personable.

We also went up to the club pool this weekend to cool off in the heat. The weather was so warm and the pool looked so inviting that even I got in. The water was luke warm from the heat and murky from a day with lots of bodies in it. I was just grateful it was open since it is past Labor day and school has started. Weather dependant usually the pool is permanently closed by now once school starts. It felt lovely on such a hot afternoon. I didn't mind the number of children splashing around. We stuck around until closing around 7:00 pm, when the numbers dwindled and we had the pool virtually to ourselves for a good 45 minutes.