Crazy Summer & Other Stuff

Time for an update on life. We may not be in Alaska right now, but there is a lot going on.

Spring has sprung in Alakanuk. There is still snow and ice everywhere, but the buds have popped. Keri did his last rabbit hunt of the season. (The picture of Keri is when I went with him to check traps shortly before the boys and I left.) Tanner and Taco (Jeremy) and I made it down to Utah. (We were locked into our flights before Rachelle got her second extension to stay in France. So we came down anyway.) I was REALLY sick with a bad cough, but I’m getting better now.

Our summer vacation is going to be insane! It is a very busy time, with a lot of traveling. I feel like a person who has been thirsty for a long time, and then gets hit with a tidal wave. We’ve been in a place inaccessible by road, which limits the ground travel to short snow machine trips. And now it seems like we will be doing nothing but driving.

In the next three months, I will be making about 10 trips to Idaho and back for several track meets, two high school graduations, returning missionary (my sister Rachel’s son), EFY, and best of all, wedding stuff (bridal shower, etc. for Erin, my wonderful daughter-in-law). (I also get to spend time with Rachel and family, and with Erin's family.) We will be driving to Montana for a wedding (another of Rachel’s sons). We will drive to Los Angeles where we will fly out to Costa Rica for 3 ½ weeks; we will drive all over that country. We return to LA and then drive up to northern California to see Keri’s family; then back to southern California for my extended family reunion; and back to Utah. And that is just the highlights. (Keri gets down here June 4th--yay!--so he will be here for a chunk of the driving too.)

I figured out that when you add all the mileage together, I could have driven round-trip from Los Angeles to New York and back, and then started out again, and ended up in the midwest. Yikes. That's a lot of wheel time.

Keri is anxious to get down here with the family. It's hard to be alone where there is very little to do. He's my hero.

On the fun side, I’ve been able to hang around my future daughter-in-law, and I’m crazy about her! The more I’m around her, the more I like her. Just when I think I couldn’t possibly like her more, I do! Erin has a very sweet and kind nature, but is also feisty enough to stand up to Chris. I am quite pleased.

Life is good.

(By the way--have I mentioned lately that Rachelle gets home on May 25th? Ask me how long it will be, and I will tell you exactly. Not that I'm counting.)

My Son, the Dork

I am a fraud. I talk tough, but haven’t followed through very well.

Since I was a new mom, I always said that when my kids get into the “marriage” realm, that I won’t try to influence them to marry someone, and I will stay completely neutral until after the wedding. I guess this was an “overboard” reaction to some unhappy marriages I saw around me. There were just too many friends who I heard say something to the effect of, “I knew I was making a mistake, but I figured I had to marry him/her because…” the invitations had been sent out…the money had been spent…(and my favorite doozie)…my family really liked him/her. So I decided early that I wasn’t going to let my kids feel pressure to marry someone. I’ve always reserved the right to try to talk them OUT of something if I thought they were making a mistake—and I have interfered in that area more than once. But I would never try to talk them INTO something. I would be totally neutral through the entire event—right up until the “I do”s were said.

Yup. I talk big.

My oldest son, Chris, recently got engaged to Erin. She is an adorable girl who I only met once last summer during one of his baseball games. They were just dating as friends and there was no indication that they might get married a year later, but she made quite an impression on me. She had her younger sisters there with her simply because they like Chris and had wanted to come along. And she was great with them. She is an open person who is confident enough in herself that she doesn’t have the need to put on a show for others. She is well grounded and has a good head on her shoulders. And what I’ve learned since then is that she has an incredible family. I’m crazy about her mom. How often does that happen? The mother-in-laws well on their way to becoming best friends!

Well, this morning, I missed a call from Chris. He left a monotone voice mail which said, “Mom, call me back. Erin and I just broke up.”

I was stunned! My first thought was, “I wonder if it can be salvaged.”

I couldn’t for the life of me think what would have happened to break up over. They seemed to adore each other. They never argued—Erin wouldn’t put up with it. They seemed to communicate well. And I knew Chris must be devastated. Every day he tells me how much he loves her, how wonderful she is, how cute she looks in pigtails, how he wishes they could just get married NOW.....

I figured whatever the problem, it must be able to be saved. So I called him back to find out what had happened before I phoned Erin’s mom, Carole. Between Carole and me, I was sure we could help our kids through the problem. So much for not wanting to get involved.

When Chris answered, all I could say in my still-shocked emotional state was, “WHAT HAPPENED?!” He sounded devastated, and said, “It was the date.” I couldn’t even think straight. Did they get in a fight on their date last night? Was it a difficult day for Erin and they got in a fight about it? I couldn’t make sense of what he was saying, so I just repeated, “WHAT HAPPENED?!”

That’s when he started to laugh and said, “It’s the date. It’s April first.” Good grief—I’d been April fooled.

Yup. I raised a dork. Now Erin is getting him, so she can deal with it. And I claim no responsibility for his dorkiness.