This summer has been a great summer for Gage and excursions to McConnelsville. He spent some time there recently so that I could try to recoup from a nasty summer virus--with only one child to care for at a time. With the exception of not feeling well, it was a pretty good week. Each of my kids got quality one on one time from someone and I was able to take naps!
Yesterday I made the trip to Cambridge to collect Gage--which is also a good thing because I'm finally over the vertigo and can drive! :) My mom and I have done this "I'll meet you at Bob Evans" thing three times this summer so I'm getting more in tune with Rt. 22--even more so than when Austin I were dating.
Yesterday, in particular, was a good solo trip through the country side. I wasn't able to keep my date with some old girlfriends that I went to college with over the weekend and had been pretty bummed about it all week. However, for some reason the radio station must have really known this and played a slew of songs that reminded me of my time living in Athens-- from old school Outkast to Tom Petty to Led Zeppelin. So, in my mind I had many rewind moments of life before kids and living single. OU was the was the initial attraction, but what we did with ourselves once we got to OU is what the memories are made of. Austin and I both met some of the most awesome, most driven, and most inspirational people in Athens. (and it was only he who finally lured me away ;) I always get a little sad when I start to have 'deep thoughts' about OU and Athens and sometimes wish I didn't give in so easily about leaving my job and moving away.
There's a lesson in that that I will always share with Gage and Leila--great memories are gifts, but moving forward is an adventure. For me, I'm lucky that Austin is just as attached to Athens because it's easy to convince him to visit... as long as we can find the open time. I had dreams of returning to OU to finish my master's that I started--until I found out my advisor moved to Seattle. I sometimes have dreams of returning to teach at FHHS--but slowly and surely, so many of my colleagues have also moved away: Jeremy, Tim, April, Erin, Brooke, Arnold etc. So many things flooded my thoughts on this Route 22 rendezvous while all of these great classics were playing on the radio.
And then irony hit home: Just as I was getting onto I-77 to head into Cambridge, the crazy bar music on the radio changed into Jason Mraz. "I'm Yours" poured into the speakers and my life--my married life, my motherhood life, my adventuring life of moving forward overtook those memories of pre-kids and living single. Austin and I listen to Jason Mraz every time we go somewhere because we like him, but also because our kids sing along to him. We listen to Jason Mraz because some of his lyrics really do symbolize, for each of us, from where we've come and to where we're determined to go--together.
My trip to collect Gage was like a fast-paced movie in my mind, equipped with a perfectly chosen soundtrack. I may have missed my all-girls reunion, but I was certainly reminded of the great adventure that is going on in the present day. My reunion with Gage was enough to put the 'wishing' on the back burner and the 'giving thanks' for such a wonderful family and life on the front burner. It was a great mental reunion on the way to Cambridge-- but it was also a great real reunion back at Austin Lake.
All four of us went out on the ski boat and spent the evening on the water. The kids watched Austin wakeboard--flying over the wakes and doing tricks to keep them squealing while I drove the boat. Gage flew like Superman off the boom barefoot style the entire length of the lake, bound and determined to earn the milkshake (rice cream shake) I promised him if he skied to the dock. And Leila... Leila was cooperative the entire time we were in the boat. She is just in the learning stages of this ski-boat thing, meaning, she still gets really upset when she sees her mom or dad in the water instead of the boat. She thinks something terrible has happened to us when the boat starts going forward and either of us is being 'pulled behind'. It was a great evening, pushing dinner all the way back to 8 p.m. So with that in mind, we, of course, capped off our night with a concession stand dinner--now, how cool is that??
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