Happy Mother’s May (not a typo), graduation, end of school, Memorial Day and all the other things! Celebrating probably looked very different for you this year, but I hope you still did.
The social distancing routine continues at Sparks manor, with one improvement. We now host yard parties for my daughter and her friends and ours as well. With chairs set at least 6 feet apart and everyone bringing their own food and beverage, we feel safe and also more sane! If you haven’t already, give this a try. I LOVE this kind of hospitality. I don’t have to cook or clean! My husband and I did work hard initially cleaning up the yards, but they desperately needed a sprucing anyway.
Allie, my beautiful but broken-legged daughter graduated from a splint to a boot this month. She still can’t put weight on it and struggled to hear that she will wear it for at least 9 more weeks. But she can take the boot off, making baths easier.
On Mother’s Day our church held a drive in service at our local football stadium. We stayed in our cars and tuned into a radio station to hear the praise music and sermon. After lunch we drove the hour and a half to my parents’ home to see them and my grandfather for the first time since all this mess started. We refrained from hugging and somehow kept Shelby, our special needs daughter from it (not an easy task – it’s her favorite.)
My husband Chuck got his first quarantine haircut – from my 15 year old. I did not take offense that he trusted her more than me with this task. There was a direct correlation to her confidence and my lack there of. He did exhibit some rising anxiety during the process, but she did a great job! He doesn’t need a hat or anything!
Shelby began Rec therapy again, which gives me a much needed couple of hours with a quiet house – even if I’m not alone in it. It also allows me a break from exercising her for one day a week. Yay! A break in routine. Anything different, please! I taught my first class in weeks. Online for the senior adults from the Rec of Grapevine. It felt good to get back, even if only in a small way. Check my Facebook page for links to the live Yoga Lite classes on Tuesdays at 1:00pm.
For family entertainment we turned to Star Wars Monopoly. Not my choice. But we laughed at my bad luck and it kept us busy. I tried to cajole them into playing until I had lost ALL of my money and property, but we gave out a little shy of that. We also introduced Allie to Dirty Dancing. Don’t judge. It was the stuff of my teen years and has an amazing soundtrack. We also rewatched The Greatest Showman. I think that was my fourth time. I just love a good musical and Hollywood falls short of making many new ones. And for more good movie songs, we belted along to both Disney Sing-Alongs. Our Amazon Alexa entertained us with two more games – Song Quiz and Mr. Robot (the later not an actual game, but something Jimmy Fallon made up).
The hubs and I consumed quite a few more shows and movies than we could convince our teen to join in. Green Book, On the Basis of Sex (about Ruth Bader Ginsberg), The Martian, and The Post (with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep) were all excellent. I would rate Second Act (with Jennifer Lopez) and The Jane Austen Book Club as OK. We sampled the new Hulu series The Great about Russia’s Catherine the Great and found it a little too distasteful for our palate, but we love National Geographic’s The 80’s: The Decade that Made Us. Talk about nostalgia! We even got out our high school letter jackets after sitting through a couple. And promptly put them back away. Little Fires Everywhere left us slack-jawed and a little speechless. In the words of my friend Terri, it’s coo-coo-catchoo! I would still love to talk to someone else about it.
In more literary pursuits, I actually finished a couple of the books I mentioned last month and began My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. It’s been on my to-read list for a couple of years and I finally quit letting other things get in the way. These authors also wrote one of my very favorite books, America’s First Daughter: A Novel. If you like history even a little, I highly recommend them. I also set off with some self-discovery and hopefully healing with Stephen Arterburn’s Lose it for Life.
What made your May a little better? Drop a comment below with your movies, shows, books or activities. I love hearing from you. And as parts of the world start to slowly open up, I pray you remain safe and sane! And to close; I love you, I thank you, and I hope June treats you well.
And now for this week’s featured post!
Body Image and Intimacy: 3 Effects it Has On Your Marriage sadly resonated with me because I struggle with negative thoughts about myself when I’m with my husband. Angie from keepingthetiethatbinds.com both reminded me that I’m not alone and encouraged me not to simply accept this. Click here to read the post and give her some comment love for linking up with us!
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Seeing a very slow and gradual opening up here has helpd my May look up. We’ve also had some pretty nice weather and have spent time outside in the sun! I certainly can’t complain about that.
It is already too hot here to be outside much. And the mosquitos are terrible. So I guess today I am thankful for AC!
It sounds like your May turned out to be busier than you imagined. I am happy things are lifting where you are so some of your routines can resume. I am sure your daughters appreciate some normalcy. Have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you, Mary. I hope your wkend was great!
We are gradually seeing more of our family too. It’s wonderful to see the grandkids again. And Star Wars Monopoly sound like fun!
I wish I could say it was fun. Monopoly is one of my least fave games!
Little Fires made me think more than a little! Pun intended. And I think there are messages in it that speak directly to the horrificness that is happening in our country right now.
Lauren, I am so glad that you are able to socialize with neighbors and visit family now. It really does make a huge difference in our mental states. My in laws are visiting for the rest of this week and we are looking forward to seeing them as well. And my neighbors have been our saving grace! Wasn’t Little Fires totally insane?! All 4 of the mothers featured did atrocious things but still I found myself understanding their decisions. It definitely made you think about a lot of things, didn’t it? And this 80’s show on National Geographic looks really cool. I need to check that out!
Shelbee
http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com
Thanks for the link-up and for pointing out the post on body image and intimacy. Much needed here too!
Amy, I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one!
Lauren, I so enjoyed this post! I think your new way of entertaining is brilliant! I’m so glad that your daughter’s leg is healing. How wonderful your husband got a haircut – my husband desperately needs one but I just don’t have the confidence to do it. Grateful for your book recommendations… I had been considering both America’s First Daughter and My Dear Hamilton and I’m definitely going to read them now! Take care and stay well, and thank you so much for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Community.
Thank you so much for hosting us every week, April. I always enjoy visiting your site. I hope you love the books.
Lauren, love this post. And, Little Fires Everywhere is definitely worthy of a discussion. I found great book club questions online and in our tiny village we are going to have a gathering of women who watched it. Should be interesting.
Susan,that sounds so interesting! If the questions are something you can share, could you send them to me at lauren@laurensparks.net? Thank you.
I just emailed them to you. Check your spam too – my work email has the word “enjoy” and at times it triggers spam.
Got them. And my husband and I got a date night last night and discussed. So helpful to get convo going. Thank you.
My husband trimmed my hair during the quarantine and did a pretty good job. I was finally able to go to the beauty shop and even my hair dresser said it wasn’t bad. Maybe he can start a new career. As for me, I’ve stayed very busy. I’ve been able to do my ministry from home (counseling and writing) and picked up my scrapbooking again which has been fun. I wish I had started earlier in the process but hopefully will be able to stay with it. I have some pipe dream of actually scrapping all the photos we have. 🙂
I have never been a scrapper. My poor kids are going to have to piece their childhood together from Facebook photos!