Happy Friday, people! It's been a strange week at the Boesiger house. Kevin was out of town for a few days which kinda upset this lady's equilibrium. As a general rule I'm not a great sleeper, but having him gone made it tons worse. I think I only got a few hours each night. I wasn't scared. I wasn't worried (well, most of the time). I was just awake. Ugh.
His time away was super productive though. He was invited by Lorenz Music to attend an all expenses paid trip to Dayton, OH to meet up with a small group of composers from across the country. He spent time with Mark Hayes, Joseph Martin, Mary McDonald and Lloyd Larsen, as well as executives and editors from Lorenz, Hope, Shawnee and Word Music publishers. I realize these names may not mean much to those of you not involved in choral music, but trust me, he was rubbing elbows with the big boys, making invaluable personal connections.
They even had a little fun, taking them to Young's Dairy Farm where they played "Udder Putter." Here's THE Mark Hayes, as some of the Facebook commentators kept asking, playing in the group behind Kevin (see Kevin in the background?).
And some general merry making with Mary McDonald at the helm.
On their last day in Dayton, they were able to tour the Lorenz facility where the music is printed. The group that went to the copy room AFTER Kevin's group got to see this:
It's a reprinting of Kevin's first piece with Lorenz! How weird they were running it the day he was there! He was bummed he missed it, but someone took a pic and put it on his Facebook wall. So cool.
SUPER PROUD OF YOU, honey. I'm so glad your YEARS and YEARS of persistent hard work are starting to pay off.
How about an informal survey?
Do Snapchat, Facetime and texting count as "activities?"
I'm having a tough time keeping Princess Dawdle busy this summer. Facetime, Snapchat and texting consume much of her days. It doesn't seem right to me. What say you?
While Drama Queen and Ladies Man are putting in some good hours working, Princess Dawdle doesn't have a job and beginning to see the need for one (Anybody need a babysitter?). She did a week of Driver's Ed (and passed--way to go babe!) and has some mission trips planned in July, but otherwise has little to do.
My idea of "doing nothing" and hers are much different however. Is she "doing something" when she's chattin' it up with her friends?
A severe storm literally blew through our town Tuesday night. I wasn't at all scared or worried, thinking it no biggie deal. I did take the kids down to the basement when the tornado sirens went off but wasn't panicked in the least. We sat down there about 20 minutes. I listened to Kevin on the phone tell me about the events of the day in Dayton and thought it only a little blip in the evening.
But the next morning I was in my office as the sun came up, and noticed all kinds of debris on my neighbor's roof. Wondering what in the world it was about, I looked out our own doors to see junk everywhere.
We lost a pretty big branch off a tree in the front yard.
And we got off easy. Some friends from our church had a tree fall on their car! A building was completely demolished north of town. Up the street a few blocks from us, a tree landed on a house. Surrounding towns reported tennis ball sized hail that damaged windows and vehicles. Our whole area was a mess!
And I was completely oblivious the night before! I'm blaming it on sleep deprivation.
While Princess Dawdle is whittling her life away on technology, Ladies Man has been very busy. On Wednesday we had orientation at the college he'll be attending in the fall. I wish I could say I am one of those strong, confident women, undazed by the changes in life, but alas, I am not. I hadn't slept much the night before (see #1) and sucked down the coffee (and I mean guzzled!) as soon as we got there, but as the hours passed with an overwhelming amount of information being thrown at me, I got a little tense and edgy (I know what you're thinking. It had nothing to do with the massive amounts of caffeine in my bloodstream).
I've been through this college thing twice before at two different colleges, yet this is still different, a different school, a different kid, a different way of doing things. Dollar signs danced around in my head and my fears of the unknown played tricks on my tired psyche. Add to that having to think about this great kid leaving my home . . . it was a little much for this fragile old lady. I wanted to bury my head in the sand and pretend none of it was happening, but I couldn't. I had to put on a smile and muster up some excitement for my son who was getting "jacked" about everything.
You may want to start praying for me now. I hate this letting go thing.
Thankfully, Kevin arrived home that evening, though his flight was 5 hours late. All the kids were able to meet up with us after picking him up at the airport and we enjoyed hearing all the stories.
It was especially fun watching Kevin and Drummer Boy "talk shop." Drummer Boy writes drum and marching band arrangements for local groups and dreams of being published himself. He had three drum pieces picked up by a publisher this year, but it's a slow process. It can get so discouraging.
Well, would you believe that someone at Lorenz is personal friends with a major drumming publisher?! They were going to email their friend and let them know Drummer Boy may be sending them some stuff. HUGE! You should have seen he and his dad talking and talking and brainstorming. So cool. He works as hard as his dad when it comes to writing. When he's not at his job, he spends every waking moment writing and writing. It doesn't surprise me. He used to do it as a teenager even.
Proud of you, Drummer Boy. Keep at it. It will pay off some day.
And now for something completely different . . . Escalators.
I hated them as a kid. The up escalator was fine, but the down escalator scared the bejeebers out of me. You know how people dream of falling off cliffs? I used to dream about falling down escalators. Really. There aren't too many scary cliffs in Nebraska, you know, but those escalators were the next best thing in my little girl's eyes.
And now I'm a 50-year-old woman whose heart still flutters when I have to step onto a down escalator. I'm not kidding you. The other day I was tempted to shush my kids while stepping onto one so I could concentrate better.
Don't laugh. You just wait. One day when I'm very old and balance is out of whack (or when the sleep deprivation completely takes over), I'll fall down one of those things and break my neck. The paper will read, "Bleary-eyed Woman Dies in Tragic Escalator Fall" and people will leave flowers and teddy bears at the bottom in my honor.
THEN who'll be laughing, huh?
As if he hasn't given his mother enough to think about, Ladies Man decided to do something bold this week.
Yep. That boy got a mohawk. That kid really knows how to live. I'm deciding it's a sign not to take life so seriously. There's a message I desperately need to get.
That's it for me today. Hope you have a great weekend, friends. Find more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.
1 comment:
I'm freaked out by down escalators as well, especially when I'm pulling a suitcase.
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