The Myth of Summer Vacation

 

"The summer's gone, and all the roses falling..."

Appropriate words from The Irish Tenors, as they croon to Ma amidst the annoying giggles of Nolan and Trevor, the last of whom was "helpfully" cleaning off the piano with Windex.

It occurred to me today that we need to start school so I can get a little rest.

Nothing but running, running, running.

Weird stuff happening over the summer...basically lurching from one unanticipated event to another.

Never thought I'd look forward to getting back to the academic routine!

(I'm not, but it should beat summer)
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With Melinda and Derek off to college, Ma's next big deal was to go to Des Moines for Kendra's White Coat Ceremony, yesterday. Loren had just returned from a long drive from Texas, so Ma gave the 4 remaining children options of whether to go with her, or not.

Nolan decided to stay home, lured in no small part with the incredible opportunity to pick out and watch a movie all by himself.

That left Carolyn, Ethan and Trevor (and moi) getting up very early to make the trek to the big city.

I allowed extra time for getting lost. That was good, since I did make a few wrong turns and it was something of a hassle to find an open parking garage.

Note: there is something about having kids with me that makes me prone to stupid mistakes in the big city. Last Saturday was no exception. But at least I didn't almost back into oncoming traffic like the guy in front of me...

Thankfully, we did find the correct event center, aided by the sight of numerous young professional types walking with white coats carefully folded over their forearms.

Even arrived 30 minutes early, which was time enough to hit the restrooms and spy Kendra lined up in the hall :-D

Then it was off to the auditorium to await the solemn ceremony.

I was enjoying the small wind ensemble as they played "The Flower Duet" from the opera, "Lakmé, when I thought, "Hey, I should get a picture of them, to set the atmosphere."

Took out my camera and discovered the "on" switch was "on." Hmmmmm. This had happened before, being stuck in my purse and subject to occasional rummaging.

"No big deal," I thought. The camera automatically goes to "off" mode.

I thought.

Wrongly.

In vain I switched back and forth from "off" to "on." Nothing happened.

"Well....good thing I brought my extra battery," I snickered, mentally patting myself on the back.

I inserted the new battery....nothing....Nothing....nothing....NOTHING!

AARRRGGGHHHH!

Today, of all days! Soooo looking forward to capturing Kendra's big event.

Remembering that the cell phone had photo capabilities, I set about trying to rediscover what the lady at the store had told me and I'd long ago forgotten.

Despite my technologically-challenged persona, I did eventually figure it out! I never got to the point of zooming in, but I did manage a few lame phone pictures of the ceremony, Kendra shaking hands with the prez and signing the pledge.

They won't be terribly clear, but better than nothing I guess.

It took me almost half of the ceremony to stop feeling sick about the camera batteries.

This is where one would ordinarily post a picture, but I don't yet have the cord that allows me to offload pictures from my phone.

They will come, some day!

Hopefully before next summer.
 

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