One Week To Go

The kids and I stayed at my parents' last night. As we were driving the familiar route home, it hit me. That was the last time I will stay there for a whole year. Well, of course I got all choked up and had to blink a ton to avoid completely losing it. I had totally set myself up for that - during part of our visit there, I took the kids past two of the houses I lived in growing up, so I was all kinds of nostalgic. I had never done that with them before, even though we drive by those roads every time we visit my parents.

It was fun to show my children part of my childhood. Memories of overnights in tree forts, bike rides to the beach, painting squares on my bedroom floor, laughing till I cried and crying till I laughed filled my heart.

I wonder if anyone else feels compelled to visit the past when your future is about to change so drastically, or was that just a fluke on my part? I wonder what memory-making is in store for us and if we will feel like France was "once our home" or "just a place we visited once."

Anyway, back at home, it was nose to the grindstone - I thoroughly cleaned Bo's bedroom, Vivi's bedroom, our upstairs storage room, and back hallway. "Thoroughly cleaning" includes tasks like washing the wood trim & doors, washing windows, cleaning cobwebs, dusting everything in sight, cleaning out drawers/cabinets/closets; washing window treatments & light fixtures; and sweeping the floors. Plus I made curried chicken salad and took a shower.

My afternoon concluded with another lovely visit with another lovely friend. It has been critical that I have set a pace for myself that has allowed for these precious reunions with friends and family. It's a good thing I started this process a month ago! I am going to miss so many people SO MUCH! Thank God this commitment is only one year long.

Made Bo's favorite meal for dinner - Fish N Chips (it's too bad we won't be in England!). Cleaned the kitchen, sorted the laundry & did a load, hung up two pictures in Bo's room that have been leaning against furniture in there for YEARS (no exaggeration), put the kids to bed, cleaned up from dinner, worked on P's scarf while watching Mama Mia, repositioned and hung up pictures in the playroom, and went through a stack of old VHS to see whether I could throw them out or not. SO glad I took the time to do this because hidden in the pile was my high school graduation, a presentation I did on high school dropouts (I think from my sophomore year in HS?), and the video from our Baby Party before Bo was born!

Apparently today's theme was tripping down memory lane...