The Ones I Didn’t Write

It’s the end of September, and even though today isn’t the last day, I’m going to go ahead and put the September Writing Challenge of 2024 to rest. It was a lovely month, and even though I didn’t produce the best writing of my life, it felt good to do some regular blogging. 

I’ve hit the point now where I don’t have any umph left for the remaining prompts. Here’s what I thought I might have written for the leftover prompts if I’d ever had the gumption:

Makeshift - we have a lot of stuff around our house that is making do; things we’ve had to jimmy rig to make last longer. 

Impulse - something I did on a whim. Or maybe an impulse buy (which this month, I think my most exciting impulse buy was new underwear for Scotty).

Deal or No Deal - things I bought at the thrift store vs things I passed on (I went to the thrift store a few times this month but just didn’t yield the right experience to make a post like this).

Utah - a list of things I like about my state or maybe a post about a particular place.

Believe - something I believe strongly in. Like how stores should have their hours posted large enough for me to read them from my car as I drive by.

Victory - a celebration of some kind of accomplishment, like going to the dentist or finally refilling my salt shaker.

My Way - an explanation of something done my way.

Something Sweet - perhaps a recipe for a yummy treat.

Shape - no idea. 

Let’s Go! - I thought I’d go somewhere and be able to blog about it. Never really happened other than going to the mountains one time, but I wrote about that in a different prompt. 

Last Week - a flashback for something I experienced the week before, but there was never anything left behind from “last week” that I could write about. 

So there you have it. September Writing Challenge 2024. Thanks for checking in. I’ll now leave you with an obligatory photo (since I don’t include one in my last post, and two posts in a row without a photo feels like I’m breaking a law).

I regret not acting on this impulse buy.

On the Tens

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #32:

10:00

For the last several days I’ve had a reminder set on my phone for 10:00 A.M. & 10:00 P.M. so I can jot down what I’m doing. In hindsight, I should have taken a few photos for blog aesthetic, but I can only be so on top of things, you know? 

Here’s how I’ve spent my ten o’clocks lately:

Saturday P.M. - laying in bed watching The Goldbergs.

Sunday A.M. - attending a sacrament meeting presentation by an outgoing missionary.

Sunday P.M. - laying in bed writing a blog post about movies.

Monday A.M. - at work putting our logo stickers on backboards and listening to By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult. 

Monday P.M. - sound asleep with my CPAP (an unusual occurrence).

Tuesday A.M. - at work, cutting canvas, and watching Emily in Paris.

Tuesday P.M. - in bed watching Friday Night Lights, making my to do list for my day off.

Wednesday A.M. - in the waiting room at the dentist. 

Wednesday P.M. - in bed watching Wednesday.

Thursday A.M. - at work building frames and listening to an audiobook.

Thursday P.M. - playing Wingspan on my phone and watching Friday Night Lights.

If nothing else, you now have proof of my terrible TV habits. 

Happy Fall, Y’all!

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #20:

Top Ten

(Reasons I love fall)

10. The scents 

Bring on the pumpkin, cinnamon, and apple.

9. School 

We’re fully in the school year now, and this momma loves it.

8. The decor

Fall is my favorite decorating season. You know I love me some cornstalks and sunflowers. 

7. Soup

I get sick of soup quickly, but there’s a brief window when fall begins where I’m super ecstatic about the soups. Shoot. Now I’m kind of wishing I’d made a top ten list of soups. Hmmm… 

6. Thanksgiving 

Thanksgiving food is my favorite! 

5. Cooler weather

I do not like the heat of summer at all, so I always feel so refreshed when the weather finally cools down. 

4. Less daylight

I know I’m in the minority here, but I like less daylight. I would love 7:00 am - 9:00 pm daylight, and that happens for a minute in fall. 

3. Bigger blankets

When the weather cools down, I can bring out the big fluffies. 

2. Fall leaves

You can’t beat the color-changing leaves. Especially in the mountains. 

1. Not having to wear summer clothes anymore

The best part of fall, for me, I shedding my summer wardrobe. I hate summer clothes - I’m not even going to sugar coat it. Give me long pants and hoodies. To heck with shorts, t-shirts, and swimming suits.

(With our current weather report, I’ll still be wearing summer clothes for a while). 

Enough Done

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #25:

Chore

Today was a day off work, and I had super high expectations for myself. I’m really behind on life right now, but I don’t have anything good to blame. Things have just piled up. Little things, but things that add up. So today I set out with a hefty to do list of lots of tasks that have been on the back burner - chores like paying medical bills online, refilling the salt and pepper shakers, and doing a whitening treatment on our white clothes. 

I started off well. I got a lot of things done before I even took my kids to school. Then I had a dentist appointment, and when I got home, I started working on my chores again, but suddenly I got really sick to my stomach. I went and laid down and fell asleep for two hours. Then my whole day was gone, and I had to start picking up kids and prepping dinner. 

While I was cooking dinner (Beef Orzo, if you’re curious), I felt like I was in the trenches of raising toddlers again. Every single one of my kids was standing within six feet of me asking questions and making messes and engaging in hangry behaviors. The kitchen got trashed. I was stressed to the max (and still didn’t feel well). Scotty wasn’t home. 

When dinner was done, I told my kids to leave me alone for twenty minutes because I needed to sit down and rest for a bit. That didn’t work out, of course. Eva was right by my side asking me a million questions. “Will you take me swimming?” “Can I paint?” “Why can’t I go to Young Women?” “How do you spell axolotl?” “Can I look on Amazon?” “Can I play with a friend?” “Can we go to the zip line park?” “What is tapioca?” “Can I have a bubble bath?” “When can I have a spa night?” “Will you take me to the dollar store?” “Do we have any spicy chips?”

(“Spicy chips” is new. I’m not sure what kind of chips she’s asking for, and I had to look up how to spell axolotl). 

On days like this, it’s hard to not feel like I’m drowning a bit. It’s funny that even as my kids have gotten older, some days it still feels like everyone is four years old and completely dependent on me. I don’t think I’ll ever be at peace with not getting “enough done” in a day. 

Things the Kids Say: Episode 32

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #5: 

Social

Me: Saying something about Planet of the Apes.

Daisy: Wait, I thought Planet of the Apes was one of those National Geographic shows.

—————

“No one is going to like you with that jawline of yours that goes straight into a chin!”

- Zoe to Eva

Eva and her questionable jawline

(Eva is my least photographed child right now. I had to scroll all the way back to July to find a picture of just her)

—————

“I think I’m a late bloomer. Everyone my age has mountains, and I have small hills.”

- Zoe

—————

“School is hard now that I’m a good student.”

- Eva

—————

“I’m a hungry little fella.”

- Eva

—————

Watching a Dystopian movie…

“Aw, man! We still have to shower in the future?”

- Zoe

We fight this girl every time she needs to shower.

—————

Nicky: This copy of Risk is from 1998.

Daisy: Isn’t that when WWII started?

Nicky: No, that was in the 60’s.

(Yet, somehow he passed his AP US History test).

On Sunday we taught Daisy how to play Risk, and she won! Her mission was to conquer Africa and Asia (one of the hardest missions). My mission was to destroy yellow. 

My Movies

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #21:

Favorite 

Whenever I get asked what my favorite movie is, I draw a blank. I can never think of the answer in the spur of the moment. For a few months, I’ve been keeping a note on my phone of my favorite movies so I can be better prepared to tackle this question. 

In no particular order (ordering them would be too hard a task), here are twelve of my favorite movies:

1. Robin Hood Men in Tights

Highly inappropriate (I would never want my grandma to watch it), and yet, I grew up watching it and can quote the entire show. 

2. Back to the Future

I’ve mentioned 5,000 times on this blog that Marty McFly was my first crush, so it’s very fitting that I still love Michael J Fox, and to this day, Back to the Future remains one of my favorite movies of all time. When Marty says, “Damn! I’m late for school!” and “Power of Love Drops,” it’s like an energy drink for me.

3. A Quiet Place

The first one is so good. The second one is okay. The third one… should not exist. 

4. The Green Mile

I watched this movie out of boredom as a teenager and was surprised how much I loved it. I read the book as an adult (it’s quite different). For those who don’t know, it was written by Stephen King under the pen name, Richard Bachman. 

5. 50 First Dates

I don’t know what I would think of this movie if I saw it for the first time now, but when it came out in 2004, it was right up my alley.

6. The Wedding Singer

This is another movie I can quote in its entirety. Should I be ashamed that there are two Adam Sandler movies on this list? 

7. Holes

When Holes came out I had no desire to see it. I’d never heard of the book, and I thought the movie looked dumb and, frankly, too orange. But then my in-laws invited Scotty and me to go see it with them, and I was blown away. It was so good! Sometimes I go to rewatch it, and I think, “Is this movie really as good as I thought it was?” Yes. It is. 

8. The Truman Show

This movie came out before reality TV and social media, and despite Jim Carrey starring, the ethical questions it raised were quite thought provoking. It’s a comedy, but it’s also very deep. And the way it ended shook me because I wasn’t used to things ending like that. 

9. Benny and Joon

I stumbled across Benny and Joon by accident on TV one day about ten years after its release. I had never heard of it! I caught the very end and recognized Johnny Depp but had no idea what the movie was. I did some research on my dial-up internet and ended up getting a copy from the library. It’s been a favorite ever since!

10. The Shawshank Redemption

Many years ago, Scotty worked for a company that had edited movies the employees could rent (the business was completely unrelated to this service, it was just something they provided for their staff). At some point they decided to sell all the copies of the DVDs and no longer offer this perk, so Scotty bought a bunch of movies. One was The Shawshank Redemption, and it became one of our favorite movies.

11. Jurassic Park

It was such an iconic movie from my childhood. My love for it has never died. And of course, I’ve read the book! It was required reading in junior high, and then I read it again a few years ago.

12. The Count of Monte Cristo

It’s just a great movie! And if you can’t tell from this list, I tend to like prison movies. 

I’m still not sure how to answer if someone asks what my favorite movie is, though. If I can only say one, I don’t feel like there’s a single movie that I can name that accurately represents my taste in movies, so let’s hope I always have the opportunity to list at least twelve.

Challenges

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #5:

Challenge

I’m down to the end of the September Writing Challenge which means that I’m down to the final prompts and have no idea what to do with a lot of them. Today I’m tackling “challenge,” and I have a few different challenges to talk about. 

Challenge #1: 

Yesterday we went to the mountains for the day. My mom bought herself a motor home for Christmas last year, so she’s been out enjoying nature all summer. She invited us to come spend the day at her campsite, so we took her up on the offer.

We went fishing, laid around in hammocks, played games, and sheltered from the rain. 

We were supposed to be by a lake, but when we arrived, to our dismay, the lake had been significantly drained. Since most of the lakebed had been exposed (and we were trying to keep Zoe and Eva busy and focused on something other than the lack of internet), I told them to try and find the most interesting item to bring back while they were walking through the lake with Scotty. 

Zoe ended up bringing back a pair of men’s underwear which she carried around on a broken boat paddle:

Eva dragged back most of a tree:

She tried to bring it home, but darn it! It wouldn’t fit in the motor home.

And Scotty found some sunglasses and fishing lures:

The glasses looked like they’ve had lake stuff growing on them for many years. 

Daisy found a fishing pole (also covered in “lake stuff”), but we didn’t get a picture.

Nicky didn’t come with us, but if he had, I guarantee he would have rocked this challenge. Nicky is our “finder.” Nicky was at a homecoming dance at another school, which leads to…

Challenge #2:

Nicky was not very prepared for this dance. He knew he was going for about two months, but he didn’t ask the girl until the Wednesday before. On Friday, I asked, “Should you be getting a corsage for this dance?” and in true teenage boy fashion, he replied, “Um… I don’t know.” 

I knew he would need a corsage, so I got to work trying to put something together. I’ve always wanted to learn to make them, so I figured this was my chance. I bought some supplies on Friday night. Around 10:00 pm, Nicky texted me that his date’s dress was pink. I didn’t even attempt to clarify what shade of pink… because it took eight hours just to get “pink” out of him.  

I had some white roses from a centerpiece from a conference Scotty went to for work, and on Saturday morning I went to the grocery store and bought a mostly dead, discounted bouquet of flowers just so I could use some of the “fillers” from it. 

Confession, I’ve always thought corsages would be pretty easy to make, and I always thought I’d just be a natural at it. It just seems like something I should be able to do. But I learned many years ago that I do not have a knack for floral design. This knowledge did not deter me from thinking I could whip up a corsage like it was nothing. 

I started putting it together, and it would look really good, but then something would slip out of place. I couldn’t get anything to stay where I put it. I was using floral tape and some wire. I’d watched tutorials. It all seemed to simple! But I couldn’t get the stupid thing to stay together or to stay on the wristlet. Finally I got out a glue gun and just glued the crap out of it. 

In the end, it looked amazing as long as you only looked at it from the top. Many secrets could be revealed from other angles. It held up long enough for photos, and I guess that’s all it was really needed for. 

Part of me thinks I should never attempt it again, but the other part of me wants to conquer this skill. 

Bless my friend who made me feel better by sending me this photo of her daughter’s corsage from a few years ago:

Challenge #3:

My third challenge is something I just need to be held accountable for. I have been indulging greatly in soda and fast food lately, so I would like to activate a personal challenge to go the next two weeks without soda or eating out (exceptions would be eating out for a purpose, like if I get invited for a girls night out or something, and if that happens, I would like to avoid anything deep fried). 

So there you have it. Three challenges of varying degrees, and my commitment to not drink soda or eat out. Send me good vibes because I’m deeply addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper and cold subs right now, and I’m pretty sure the people at three different McDonald’s locations know my voice.

Ten (Quick) Random Facts

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #3:

Lickety Split 

Fact #1: I absolutely hate my CPAP machine. Thanks for asking. 

Fact #2: I know you want to see more homecoming pics of Daisy and Leo.

Fact #3: We just found out that Nicky’s homecoming photos didn’t save to the SD card the photographer was using. I’m glad he at least had a few candid selfies and funny photos from the day since it was his last homecoming. 

Fact #4: Things my son does that give me a heart attack:

Double back flips off a rope swing hanging from a dead tree

Me: Is this one of those optical illusions that makes it look like you’re standing on a cliff you could slip right off of, but you’re actually just a foot off the ground?

Him: No. I’m literally standing on the edge of the cliff.

Scaling a backstop for no reason other than he can

Fact #5: What it’s like to have a 15-year-old daughter:

Fact #6: One thing I love about our high school is that they have some wonderful, inclusive, special education programs. They have Unified Sports, Unified Cheer, and Unified Theatre (to name a few). Nicky has such a gift for working with kids with special needs, and it was his priority for his senior year to do Unified Sports and Unified Theatre. He arranged his entire schedule (and even declined some opportunities like Madrigals) to be able to do these programs. 

Fact #7: Yesterday was the Unified Soccer Tournament, and our school hosted. I was able to sneak away from work (with twenty minutes notice because Nicky is, after all, a teenage boy who routinely forgets to tell his mom about his events) and watch them play. 

(The event was supposed to be on the football field, but they had to move inside due to rain).

We had a really awesome rainbow the other day. Cell phone photos from the intersection just never quite cut it!

Fact #8: I’m so excited for cooler weather, and I’ve loved the rain. Give me a few more cold, gloomy days! And let me nap. 

Fact #9: I finished an audiobook last week, and I’m 90% done with another one. These are the first ones I’ve really finished (attentively) since April when I stopped being able to read. 

Fact#10: Shoot, maybe that CPAP machine that I hate so much is actually helping with my cognitive function. 

Ball Cap

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #12:

Hats

This is a weird prompt, and I have no idea why I put it on the list other than I was trying really hard to think of things I have never written about, and hats seemed to fit the bill (Haha! Bill! Just a little hat humor there for you). 

I’ve never been a hat person for a few reasons:

Reason #1: I have a large head, and most hats are too tight. 

Reason #2: I have protruding ears. I just don’t look right with a hat. I don’t know where to put my hair. In front of my ears? Behind my ears? Over my ears? No position works or looks right. Sometimes when I mention this to people, they suggest that I tuck my ears in the hat. That sounds awful! Which brings me to…

Reason #3: I can’t handle the sensation of having a hat on my head. It’s uncomfortable and claustrophobic. And hot, itchy, and heavy. 

So I don’t wear hats, but I wish I could! I like hats. I want to be a hat person. Every now and then I put on a hat just to see if anything has changed, and then I take it right back off, and it’s all just a really big bummer because I think my kids would love for me to show up to all their events in this:

Wherein I am Wrong

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #34:

Tough Stuff

I've had a lot of experiences lately where I hear the "other side" of the story, and I go, "Ohhhhh." It turns out, sometimes I am wrong about things. 

I can be wrong because of limited perspective or information. I can be wrong because I make assumptions. I can be wrong because I relied on a second-hand (or even third or fourth-hand) story. I can be wrong because I misinterpreted, misheard, or misunderstood. 

I can be wrong.  

(And as a know-it-all, that's hard for me to admit). 

Several months ago, I had a memorable experience with being wrong. 

I had to speak in front of a group, and there was a lady named Helen on the front row. I knew Helen by name and reputation but not personally. I knew that she was (is) a very intelligent woman who retired from a prestigious career. I felt a little intimidated having her there sitting so close, and I hoped I could win her favor - at least to the extent that she didn't feel tortured or bored in my presence. But her face was stern the entire time, and I could tell that she was not impressed with me. 

Later when Scotty asked me how it went, I specifically told him about Helen and how much she disliked my presentation. I received really good feedback from everyone else, but all I could focus on was how disinterested Helen had been.

Three days later I got a card in the mail from Helen telling me how much she loved and enjoyed my message. 

Whoa. 

I got it wrong. Way wrong. 

And I had been so sure, too. I knew she hadn't liked me.

That and a slew of other experiences have reminded me that I need to question my own assumptions and conclusions. I always need to consider other explanations and perspectives and not rely entirely on my limited view of things. 

A few months ago at church there was a lot of discussion in sacrament meeting and in Relief Society about some of the ways people have been hurt or wronged. There were stories shared of people feeling judged by other church members. It was kind of a heavy theme and some of the things that were being said were starting to bother me. I realized, after thinking about it for a long time afterward, that what was bothering me was the lack of forgiveness in these stories. 

Now, these weren't stories of absolute cruelty. A lot of them were stories of someone saying or doing the wrong thing out of naivete or ignorance. They were stories, much like the one I shared about Helen, where someone was just... wrong. Someone got it wrong, plain and simple. 

I imagined myself in the offenders' shoes thinking, "Will you let me try again?"

Because sometimes we just need a chance to do things differently, and that gets me thinking about how sometimes when someone else is wrong, we need to let them try again. 

If someone says something inappropriate, will you let them try again? If someone is judgmental, will you let them try again? If someone acts on an incorrect assumption or incomplete information, will you let them try again? 

If someone is wrong, will you let them try again? Because heaven knows we all need do-overs once in a while. Me especially. 

Flavors

September Writing Challenge - Prompt # 22:

Flavors 

As I write this, it’s late at night on a Thursday. I just ate a few handfuls of one of my favorite snacks - Dot’s honey mustard pretzels. When I was a teenager, I loved Gardetto’s mustard pretzels, but it’s been years since I’ve had them, and while the internet seems to have some to offer, they are no longer a stocked item in any stores I shop at. Dot’s aren’t quite the same flavor, but they are readily accessible and likewise delicious. The problem is, having eaten them late at night, they’re probably going to give me heartburn and horrible overnight breath. I made my choice, and I must endure the consequences.

As I contemplate my future issues, it seems like a great time to write about flavors. 

Here are some flavors I don’t really like:

Lipton onion soup mix - I hesitate to use recipes that call for onion soup mix. It comes back via nasty burps and bad breath that could kill a yak from 200 yards away. I feel sick after I eat it. Because of this, I usually drastically decrease the amount of soup mix or avoid it altogether. I don’t like flavors that resurface later. 

With that, I don’t like heavily smoked meat. I don’t handle meaty fire burps three hours after I eat. 

Nutmeg is a weird one for me. I try to avoid it or decrease it in recipes. And I’m careful with cinnamon. I would never entirely write off cinnamon (75% of the time it’s fine), but sometimes I don’t like it. It depends on what it’s in. 

Artificial banana and cherry are yucky to me. And along those lines, I really don’t like fruit punch. Banana Laffy Taffy, cherry Slurpee, and Hawaiian Punch are all easy for me to turn down. In fact, I don’t really like Slurpees much. Sometimes I’ll have a pina colada or a banana (which makes no sense since I just said I don’t like artificial banana flavoring, but I guess I’m just thinking of Laffy Taffy specifically). 

I’m sparse with Italian seasoning. Italian sausage is kind of iffy for me. 

Horehound is gross. I probably wouldn’t even know what horehound is except that my mother-in-law is really into old-fashioned candy, so she has made me try stuff like horehound, and ain’t nobody need horehound in their lives when we have much better tasting stuff these days. 

I’m not a fan of Pizza and Mexican flavors in things that aren’t pizza or Mexican. For example, I don’t need to eat pizza flavored chips or pasta with taco seasoning in it.

I don’t think I like almond extract. I sub for vanilla.

Cola flavored things aren’t good. Just keep the Cola in the Cola. I don’t want it in a gummi or a popsicle. 

Black licorice is not my thing.

Something about butterscotch doesn’t sit well with me. Occasionally I enjoy a scotcheroo, but I have to be cautious with butterscotch because it can be icky to me.

Sweet pickles are an abomination. I always do a smell check with pickles because I’ve been betrayed in the past and thought I was eating dill when it was really sweet. 

Sometimes it’s easier to make a list of things you don’t like rather than things you do (hopefully this is because there are more things worth liking than not liking), so to add balance, here are some flavors I like:

Salted butter, basil, sour cream, chocolate, most fruits, tigers blood, coconut, natural lemon, cashew, pineapple on pizza, Best Foods mayo, salt, sweet potato, fry sauce, salt and vinegar chips, ham, bread, avocado, vinegar and oil, dried mangoes, cheese, candied pecans, rocky road (with marshmallow pieces - not cream), peanut butter, cookie butter, curry, cream cheese frosting, pumpkin, and pistachio. 

Now I’m not saying I want all of these as an ice cream or saltwater taffy flavor (nor am I going to eat Best Foods by the spoonful), but I like the taste of these things. 

(As supplemental material to this post, here is a list of 100 things I like to eat).

Who, What, Where

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #1:

Who, What, Where

I’ve been trying to think of something to write for this prompt all month, and I haven’t come up with anything great. I’m going to take an easy way out and share some of my BeReals from September. 

Who: Me

What: Getting ready for church

Where: In my bedroom

Who: Me

What: Buying paper fast food from Eva

Where: In my in-laws’ basement

Who: Me again

What: Blogging

Where:  From my living room couch 

Who: Daisy and me

What: Getting ready to eat Papa John’s on 50% off day

Where: In the kitchen

Who: Me and Daisy

What: Checking out the clearance

Where: At Walmart

Who: Me and Scotty

What: Playing Puerto Rico

Where: At Chad and Carlie’s house

Who: Me and Daisy

What: Checking for an ear infection and strep (no to both)

Where: At InstaCare

Who: Me

What: Building 63 ebony frames

Where: At my work

Who: Me (star of the show)

What: Trying to get away from the robot floor sweeper

Where: At Sam’s Club

Who: Me, Eva, and Zoe

What: Celebrating “no cavities”

Where: At Handel’s

Who: Me and Daisy

What: Getting hair ready for homecoming

Where: In my bedroom

HOCO Madness

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #9:

Full Circle 

Last night Scotty and I chaperoned the homecoming dance at our kids’ school. 

Some of us old folks. This photo now lives rent free in my mind, and I will look at it always because Brian in the background is my new favorite thing on earth. He looks like a ghost haunting our selfie.

We have a new milestone - having TWO kids at the high school and TWO kids going to the dance. It’s fun having TWO, but one thing that threw me off guard about this was the extra scheduling required when you have multiple kids going to the same homecoming events all week with with different friends and different groups. Saturday was a bit wild with the “who’s doing what, when, and where?” Fortunately one of those children can drive and get himself to where he needs to be. 

Kid #1: left at 7:30 am and ran hard all day. Came home at 1:30 am. Pictured here at Ensign Peak with date Jasmine. 

Kid #2: I was her personal assistant all day. Followed her around paparazzi style. Was it her first date? Technically, yes. Was it also her birthday? Technically, yes. Are Daisy and Leo the cutest kids on the planet? Technically, yes. Is Daisy a cougar because she is six weeks older than Leo? Technically, yes.

Rawrrr

With my chaperoning gig, a few things have come full circle. First of all, my kids go to MY high school. Over twenty years later, I’m guarding MY halls, standing atop MY commons area stairs, and keeping an eye on kids in MY courtyard… with MY friends and MY husband who went to the same school. 

I tell ya… this is not what I thought about during my lunch hour in Y2K. “Someday I will spend evenings in this building listening to Pitbull and keeping watch over a pile of abandoned strappy high heels while my 17-year-old son gets lost in a mosh pit.”

Actual footage of my son lost in a mosh pit

The other part that feels full circle is my sensitivity to the loud music and the darkness. I spent all night having to ask people to speak directly into my ear because I couldn’t hear a darn thing, and then for the last hour of the dance, they turned the lights off, and I was blind. How am I supposed to supervise the well-being of youths in the dark? Next time I’m bringing a headlamp. I was excited that the dance ended at 9:00 because this old lady needed to go home and experience silence and fresh air (by 8:00 the dance was a hot, BO swamp. The air was so thick and stale. I kept thinking “Y’all smell like you need to go home!”)

Despite the reminder that I’m officially old and come from an entirely different era than the homecoming attendees, this week was a lot of fun. Nicky and Daisy got to go to a lot of events and do dress up days. Nicky is super involved in everything and hardly had a wink of sleep. By Thursday morning he had totally hit his wall and I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it out the door. He was running on fumes, for sure, and probably needs to sleep for three days at this point.

Here are a few more fun photos from homecoming week (they won’t be in chronological order because I’m posting from my phone, and Blogger does what Blogger does):

On Wednesdays we wear pink

HOCO hair trial #36

Nicky trying on his bald cap and goggles for Despicable Tuesday 

Ring doorbell footage of Nicky at 6:30 am on Despicable Tuesday 

Jasmine and Nicky after I dragged them outside for a photo during the dance

Christie and me at the ticket table 

Laurel and me - professional chaperones

Nicky and Addie at the football game “white out”

Read a post about my last chaperoning gig here. Not much has changed.