The last big push

“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don't have to like it... it's just easier if you do.” – Byron Katie

Somehow, we're still here.  Still together.  A family.  And that night earlier this week was a full circle kind of night.

Colton had the much anticipated end of the season parent-child game.  We expanded to include siblings this year.  And Nolan, coming off an intense practice of his own, still mustered the energy to come and skate.  

When Nolan's team was younger and had parent-child games, they were a little intense.  Nolan would get frustrated when Rick would shoot and score against Nolan's team.  He'd become feisty and aggressive if the Dads were scoring too much and I would be cringing in the stands, watching Nolan see red.  His competitive juices were flowing and he was not going to lose.  

Rick took photos the last year of Nolan's game, and stayed on the sidelines, to avoid all the conflict for Nolan. 

Enter Colton.  Maybe Colton would be excited to have Dad come and play?  But Colton wasn't too keen on having his Dad come down and shoot on him either. And then to think Nolan might fire his rocket shot against Colton?  Colton wasn't so sure about this night either.

But we've grown.  We've been stretched and made to fall apart in ways, that have helped us grow back together in even stronger ways.

Nolan kept his competitive spirit in check and simply had fun.  He split his time between the two teams- dishing the puck off to the kids when he played with them, helping them score, and scoring a few goals for the parents, when… well… they needed a little extra gas.  

The game is certainly more fun when the score is at least close.

And Colton was in his glory- making save after save- both from the parents and from the kids.  

We left that night, fully feeling our family-ness.  

Nolan has one more big regional tourney here in town this weekend.  We have team dinners, and breakfasts, and a tourney to run and lots of hockey to play and watch this weekend.

Ummm- so how did I, the OLDEST of the family,  become the second smallest all of a sudden?  

All the kids with their Dad's and Coaches and siblings.

A few more treasures have come through my door as of late…

Thank you Jennifer- what a sweet surprise.  The i-clips- are the coolest thing ever- and the sweet card along with the chocolate made for a day brightener for sure!  

Karen and I both were intrigued when our friend Hilary wrote about "Zentangle."  The Zentangle website states "Anything is possible... one stroke at a time."  

But you have to check out the link and go see for yourself how cool this looks.  So Karen, graciously sent me my own doodle book and the perfect pens to try!  

Thank you!

I can't wait to try!!

We giggled when we saw the rooster cards that came with this sweet note… ahem… and there may have been a plate of cookies that came with… that disappeared in record time.  I never even got a photo of them at all.  Thank you Greta and Angie! 

Which leads to the last delightfully delicious treat to arrive- some scotcharoo bars.  And they never made it past the camera lens either.  Straight to our stomachs and so worth it!  

Thank you to the anonymous person that thought of us- you made our day!

We've made it.  As of this morning mom is 100% out of her apartment and we made it through the check-out process unscathed. 

We've donated and given away much, whatever mom would agree to.  Stuffed animals to the kids.  A chair to her friend.  A coffee pot to the community room, etc. Traces of her going for good causes.

The rest of her things?

75% of her is now in our hallways, our kitchen, her old house, and in all of our cars… everywhere we can store a piece or two for now.  

We still have some work to do.  But mom has officially left the apartment building. 

It was a bittersweet night, driving out of the lot for the last time.  Thinking of Dad and the 3 days he lived at the apartment before he passed on.  And now mom, having moved on as well, residing in a new room, surrounded by as much of her "home" as we could fit in her space.  

~All shall be well~

“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don't have to like it... it's just easier if you do.” – Byron Katie

So much easier friends, if you do.