Beyond Bringing Up Boys

A couple of days ago, Zachary received a beautiful scarf from Hillsdale with a note saying that he might not need it now, but he surely would need it later.  Our hearts broke a little that day; He had already told us he had made a decision. And so, Zachary made the most difficult call of his life yesterday. When he told us later in the day, our hearts broke a little more. But he made a mature decision.--he chose not have debt.  I'm proud of him.  He considers it a failure that he missed the 3.75 GPA by 1/10 of 1 point. That  was tough. But he took 4 AP  classes and Honors for everything else. I've seen others take a lesser load to achieve that coveted 4.0 +. His SAT score was high enough to be admitted to any school except a few Ivy League ones.  To us, that's not academic failure and it's not to Hillsdale either.  It was the debt that caused him to say "no" to his dream college. ...

    I read a quote that said, " my swimsuit told me to go to the gym, but my sweatpants were like 'nah, girl, you're good '." And it actually seemed funny until I. saw. myself. in. a. swimsuit.  The truth is weight has never been an issue for me--hate me if you want to; I have my own issues-- until now . Yes, I did gain 60 pounds with my first pregnancy, but those pounds slipped off my body like the sun slips beneath the horizon at sunset.  And, there has never been another sunrise...well, a weight-rise might be more appropriate. Until now. Until I sat for months with a fractured knee. Until I started craving strawberry ice-cream in the middle of the night. Until eating peanut butter straight from the jar seemed like a good idea. Until now.  I'll tell you straight up, it's time for an intervention.   Tomorrow.    My sweatpants are feeling pretty roomy tonight.  

  We set out Saturday for another anniversary adventure--it has been 23 years after all!  We realized that we weren't going to make our destination on time and I was having a "rumbly in my tumbly," (thank-you, for the reference, Pooh Bear) and we found a gem in the middle of  "little Mexico!"  I am not kidding when I say that we could hear roosters crowing from our seats on the patio.         I am not sure what Dr. B. ordered, it was a daily special. But, oh my!  Salmon with some kind of spicy, sweet (love the generalities here) sauce with pickled carrots, cucumbers, and jalapenos.       I had a blackened tilapia fish taco with their house tartar sauce and heaps of cilantro. And really, can you ever have too much cilantro?  Well, except for Dr. B., who is not fond of it and finds a miniscule amount too much. However, because he is awesome like this, he gave me half of his and it was tot...

   Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.  --Aristotle   Happy 23rd Anniversary to my soul mate and forever love.

Circa. 1973  Circa. 1977 4 siblings, 3 spouses, 1 boy friend, 11 children, 1 son-in-law, 7 dogs, 5 cats, 2 birds, 2 peacocks, 15 chickens, 2 geese, 1 goat, 1 guinea pig, 1 chinchilla, 1 snake, 1 hedgehog, 1930 combined miles, and diversity galore. Our family is not perfect. We argue. We fight. And sometimes we stop talking to each other, but we're family and when it matters, we are there for each other. And so, it was notably special that each one took time out of their active schedules to celebrate Zachary's achievement. I love you all!

Dr. B. has been faithfully making my coffee for years--so many, in fact, that I can no longer recall when he didn't.  He's a Coke Zero man himself, but he knows just how to make my coffee good-to-the-last drop. Secretly, I think it's all the cream and very little coffee, but whatever it is, it works. Last week my niece arrived with this; I can now brew my own beverage , if I'm needing a perk in the afternoon. Dr. B. has expressed displeasure and it's not just the added cost. He says that now I no longer "need him." It's also been years since I put gas in my own van. So, unless full-service gas stations become more available, I'd say his place with me is secure.

It's been awhile since I last wrote. A long while. And, as in most families, a lot has happened in that "long while."  Over time perhaps I'll get to that, but for now, I just want to try entering the blogsphere again. This used to be a place where I expressed my thoughts or updated the events of our family, but slowly, other forms of social media took over and my voice here has been silent. May 23, 2015 was a very big day in the life of the Balty's as our oldest, Zachary, graduated from Eagles Landing Christian Academy that day. I'm looking quite glamorous in the photo booth picture above, but Dr. B is looking stunned; I think he received the first bill for college tuition.