Well, it's been almost two months since I've last written so it's time to catch up. I'll start with the first month that I haven't written and then fill in the rest in a day or so. ;) I've decided to go in chronological order to make things easier. Last time I wrote I was getting ready for Sean's graduation and obviously that happened because I posted the pictures on my site. Sean's best friend Dan came with us, and we had so much fun. Dan and I named the umbrella "Mr. Totes" and we had a series of jokes going along with it. My grandmother, bless her heart, spent most of the ceremony whispering in my ear about the horrible manners of all the people sitting around us. ;) Due to her conscientiousness, I got "thumped" on the arm by her when I cheered for my brother. Apparently I cheered too loudly and it was inappropriate. ;) But it was really great to see my uncle and his friend, Theresa.
Sadly, the celebration of Sean's graduation was quickly overshadowed by the sudden and tragic death of Barbara's older brother Charlie. He died in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 6. The pain and loss are very deep and they never really go away. I have good and bad days, and I know that what I feel is only a small portion of what Barbara and her family feels. We all miss Charlie... so very much. I don't want to over-explain all of this in specific detail because an attempt at this would only take away from the memory of Charlie. The church was overflowing for his memorial service.
I ended my substitute teaching job early to spend almost every day with Barbara. The kids were driving me crazy anyway. It was actually getting better because I was sticking strictly with high school students. Some people think that teenagers are so difficult to deal with, but I've found that I can have more meetings of the minds with them than any other age group. Plus, if a student really pushes the boundaries over and over again, then I have no problem sending them to the office.
At the end of June, I spent a week in New York for some unwind time. Joe still had to work during that week, so I slept until noon a few of thos days. ;) And it was so awesome because we got to hang out with Ben!! For anyone who doesn't know, this is the Ben that went to UMBC, graduated May 2003, and enrolled at the Culinary Institute of Ammerica in November 2003. Well, guess where the CIA (lol, yeah) is located? You got it! 5 min. down Rte. 9 from Marist College! So that Friday, Ben, Joe, and I went to see Dodgeball and then hung out at Eveready diner. It was so great to see Ben again! Though poor Ben had to be caught up with everything that had happened to everyone since November. Needless to say, that took awhile. But that week with Joe was fantastic and exactly what I needed.
By the amazing grace of God I had a temp. summer job fall in my lap. Barbara's mom mentioned that the firm her long-term friend worked for was looking for people to work nights to reset the Giant grocery stores to their new barcode labels since they're switching ownership. Anyways, it's 40 hours per week, no brainer work, just for the summer... it's a paycheck. Well, I went into the office to apply at the end of June, and while I was there filling out the paperwork, etc. etc. the man "interviewing me asked if I had any secretary experience. Well, even though it was a while ago, it's still relevant. Anyways, this firm needed someone to fill in for their secretary while she was away on vacation. So guess who gets to do that? You got it! So that's why I've been flip-flopping back and forth between days and nights because I've been between the office and the grocery stores. And the best thing about this summer job is that it's giving me more recent office management experience which is fantastic for my resume. I've been applying for jobs like crazy for the fall because I really don't want to go back to substitute teaching. I think I got gray hairs from doing that. I know it drained me of all my energy thich was not fun because all I did was work and then sleep. So yeah, that's what's new with the work aspect.
The week before 4th of July, which was a big surprise to my brother and I, was the sudden move of our dad from here in MD to Hampton, VA. Apparently he'd been considering this move since February but he'd resolved to stay in the area until after my brother had graduated from high school Then everything just fell into place so suddently with his job transfer that he ended up moving in with his parents temporarily until he can find a place of his own. Ok, so here's the story of the fiasco that happened that week. On Father's Day my dad had said that he was closing out his storage unit. And anything that no one wanted, he would just be getting rid of it. So since he didn't want this stuff, I decided to take the kitchen stuff, a futon, queen size bed, and computer desk. Sean and I were planning on going to the unit on Monday a week after Father's Day. Well, it just happened that mom was leaving for her week vacation in North Carolina and Virginia that week. So she wasn't around when we were going to help clean out the unit. The day that we went to the unit was the day that my dad told us he was moving... in 3 days! Therefore, to help him move easier, we brought all his stuff back to the house. Well, anything that he didn't want to take with him to VA (which was a lot ) he left at the house. So yeah, then I was responsible for either finding a place to keep the stuff worth keeping, or getting rid of anything else. (ie. Goodwill, dump, etc.) That's when mom called home... really not good. We had it out completely because she doesn't take surprises well. That coupled with her extreme hatred of my dad... yeah, not a good combination. Since then, we've come to a meeting of the minds regarding the stuff of my dad's that I wanted to keep. And everything else, I made sure that it was gone before she came home from vacation. I had to call on so many favors from so many people it wasn't even funny. But many thanks to every one who helped in any way they could.
Another big surprise was on 4th of July, I spent the whole evening with my real dad. It's been 3 years since I last saw my dad (though we've talked on the phone several times) so we had lots to talk about. And we had dinner together but we didn't see any fireworks. That's ok, I'd much rather just spend time with him. He's in and out of the area pretty frequently, but it's always for work so he still doesn't have a lot of free time. He probably was free because everyone else he works with/for wanted their 4th of July free too.
Well, I'll start working on the month of July now and hopefully have that updated by the start of August ;) ... now I'm only 1 month behind.
Ciao!