October 10, 2015

The first words I saw this morning, before I was even really awake were: “Well Ali, I promised you we would let you know first”  and then I saw “60 days to vacate”.  I suddenly woke up.  I read the letter more thoroughly and saw that my landlord and his wife would be selling the home I’ve lived in/loved/hated for the last 4 and a half year, and that’s ok.  The kids and I will find another place, I know, so I am not worried about that as much as hating that it means really going through things – getting rid of/packing, etc.  I love how Universe takes care of me.

Both kids were at friend’s houses and Mags had a volleyball tournament today, which means things would be busy.  Ethan should up around 9:30 and learned the news first.  Right away he suggested we move into the old house – which would be terrific under different circumstances, but L is planning on moving back in the next month, I believe.  If only the house had 4 bedrooms… we could make that work, but it does not, and I am not willing to visit that and I don’t think L is, either.  The landlord showed up in the next half hour to give me the vacate notice and we talked for a bit.  Seems his company has been sold after his working there 18 years, so he is selling his rentals.  He’s a nice guy, he really is, and I hope he does ok.  I left to go pick up Maggie and we discussed possibilities.  We are both excited because really, it means we have anything possible ahead of us!  She mentioned how she loved how I turned everything into an adventure and I told her this was the most important thing I think I could teach her and Ethan – to see that there is always a silver lining; sometimes it may be difficult to find or we don’t see it until years later, but it is there and I want to give them this attitude in Life.

The three of us raked up the back yard and started making a Moving Sale pile and a Keeping pile.  It was quite a nice sweat for me.  It was soon time to rush and get going as we had to be at practice by 1:00.  The Yeto was packed in the car, a few healthy snacks were packed (which I actually have!) and Ethan even packed the Soda Stream, a cutting board, lemons and a knife.  The kid tailgates with style.  Then we headed to UM and dropped Mags off while Ethan and I went to tower mart for ice, water and a few Tiger Milk bars for Maggie.  When we got back, one of the first people I ran into was a gentleman who supervised the man I worked with when I was at UM and struggled so much with.  I was secretly thrilled to hear, in a very respectful, yet honest way that the methods of working with ED kids is much more effective the way I was trying to do it – forming a relationship and listening to them.  My former co-worker’s method is great for Oppositional Defiance Disorder – but often that isn’t who we had.  It doesn’t really mean anything, but I felt validated.

Soon the tournament began.  The first match they won without issue, but the second game wasn’t as easy.  They were tromped fairly strongly.  The girls had a break and were given a chance to regroup, which is very much what they needed.  The former co-worker ran into me (not literally, this is simply a figure of speech.  We call these idioms) which kind of surprised me, but it was good to see him (and not have to go into the classroom Monday morning).  As I was walking around the campus, I thought of many of the people I really missed seeing here – especially the kids, but man –I am so glad I don’ work here anymore.  Soon it was time to play again and the girls won their third match. I do need to compliment Tatjana - she insists she is not very good with sports, yet her score announcements were absolutely impeccable!  You can sit next to me anytime, Sweet Lady!  :)    One game to go and then they would play for the championship.  It was a hard fought game, it really was, but the other team was too strong (Camino, ironically.  Same school that won Flag football) and so, our girls won third place!!  YES!  Bronze medals if this were the Olympics.  I am so proud of them.  We headed to Urban Yogurt for frozen yogurts for celebration of a terrific season.

We headed home and unloaded our tailgating stuff.  Mags went straight to bed.  Ethan and I cooked steaks (tri-tip, I believe), which was kinda tougher than I would have liked.  I may call steak-dude back.  Then I changed and headed to the gym for 30 minutes of cardio.  I had promised Ethan I would grab him and ice-cream, which is why I stuck to 30 minutes, but after I located the ice cream (one for Mags, too), I found him asleep.  So I will enjoy my rice cake with crunchy peanut butter and then sleep.  I am hoping for no bad news from a doctor in the next few days: so far work is shaky, and now the home-thing…yet another reason why I am terrified of a relationship.

Pictures:The final spirit huddle; First match - small gym; Third match - large gym; A beautiful sunset sky; Celebration at Urban Yogurt