Five on Friday
Hi friends! I am pretty sure the last week of July is my least favorite week of the year. Every year I reach this week and remember how much I hate it. It’s hotter than hadestown outside, school is still two weeks away, we are all sick of each other, and well, it’s just a lot. From my text conversations with friends I know I’m not the only mom in this boat this week—patience is wearing thin and many of us are ready for the structure of a school year even though that schedule brings about its own challenges. I promise though my 5 things today aren’t just whining about the heat and summer!
**ONE**
Ten years ago this weekend our family arrived here in Jacksonville for the first time. Ten years! We’ve lived here a whole decade! When we moved here from Los Angeles, I’d never lived further east than Sacramento, California, so this was WAY far from everything I was familiar with, and I will say arriving from the deserts of Los Angeles to the humidity of August in Florida might have about done me in, but I survived, acclimated over time and now I can’t imagine being anywhere else in this season of life. I spent the first year adjusting to all kinds of differences from the west coast—the humidity, the mosquitos, the geckos that are everywhere, but also the courtesy and manners that are a part of the culture here that were different from what I was used to. All the teenagers I met at church regularly said “yes ma’am” which was definitely not what I was used to! I remember one day the kids (who were 18 months old and 4) had gone into Chick Fil A and while we were there a huge rainstorm began. I remember standing at the door looking at the car thinking how were we going to manage this when all of a sudden a teenage boy appeared in the parking lot coming into the restaurant with a big umbrella. He saw us and said “can I help you to your car and try and keep your kids dry?” I was blown away, that kind of courtesy just wasn’t part of the culture of the big cities I’d been in.
I remember being so incredibly struck by how many colors of green existed here. Coming from the dry brown hills of summer in Los Angeles, the richness of the greens here blew me away and caused me to gasp a few times driving over particular bridges crossing marshlands. I’ve learned a lot here, like “don’t go to a Jaguars game in the early fall unless you can really handle heat” (spoiler alert, I can’t handle the heat and came home throwing up from heat exhaustion from my first Jags experience. I now watch from the air conditioned living room). I’ve learned I am often in very mixed company when it comes to political views—it is very rare that I’m in a group that all votes the same way or would view our political climate the same, and I love that I don’t live in an echo chamber of people who all agree with my views or think the same way I do. i think that’s healthy and it’s brought a richness to conversations I value so much. (Also, because many times people I’m with might disagree about politics we find all kinds of other things to talk about, reminding all of us that life is so much bigger than who we vote for which I love).
Here we are, ten years later, so grateful for the place we live, the people we love here, the beach, the Jaguars and the pride the city has in their team, the fun culture of college football around here, so many things there are to love here. It’s hot here, but it’s home. So cheers to ten years in Florida and here’s to another many to go! Just for fun I thought I’d do a little gallery of our family pictures that we have taken every fall here. It’s crazy to look back and how quickly and how much these boys have grown in a decade!
**TWO**
This past week Aidan spent in the mountains of North Carolina at Montreat, the Presbyterian Camp and Conference Center that has hosted thousands and thousands of youth over the years for week long camp experiences. I told him that every Presbyterian I met in seminary who came from the east coast had spent time at Montreat as a high school student, so I was super excited for him to go experience this place. He has been on long weekend retreats before but this was his first full week away, and I wasn’t sure how he’d do. Often on the long weekend retreats I start getting texts with him overly tired, frustrated by someone or just missing home. They left Sunday morning and drove up to NC and I didn’t hear from him at all until Tuesday night, which means I knew he was having a great time. When he called Tuesday night he said “I’m sorry I didn’t call before now but this place is AMAZING!” Throughout the week I kept waiting for the “I’m done, I’m ready to come home” texts and those never showed up. He had the absolute time of his life and cannot wait to go back next year. He wants either Chuck or I to go as a chaperone next summer so we can experience it too.
Obviously going to camp is a huge opportunity to practice independence for a teenager, and it’s also such a great chance to learn some valuable lessons like how to rely on other adults who aren’t one’s parents for help if needed, how to keep track of your belongings, budget the money you’ve been given for the week, make your own free time decisions, and of course just spend the week in nature. We definitely don’t want the first time our kids are away from home for a week to be when they move into their college dorm room so we are super thankful for the amazing adults that were willing to go take them for such a fantastic week!
**THREE**
Anyone else starting to find themselves in the back to school hustle of paperwork, school supplies, haircuts, shoe shopping etc? There are a ton of little tasks that end up often on mom’s to do list this time of year. I have found that the easiest way for me to manage all these things is to do a big brain dump in my planner or a notebook of everything that needs to be done for each kid. So I’ll have a list for Aidan that this year includes his athletic paperwork packet, the health and safety videos he has to watch to participate in sports, school supplies, new tennis shoes for everyday wearing etc. For Asher he has a separate list that includes new shoes, a haircut, practicing with a lock for his first year with a locker, finishing his summer homework assignment etc. I have found that getting all these things out of my head into one place is super helpful to be able to see what needs to be done, and when it comes to shopping, this wasn’t always possible but now that my kids are older I have found it so much easier to take them one at a time for any clothes, shoes and school supplies. I get far less overstimulated and overwhelmed when I’m only looking at one kid’s school supply list rather than trying to keep track of who is throwing what items in my cart! Last week when Aidan was gone I was able to tackle all of Asher’s list with just him and that made things so much easier. He’s now old enough to stay home alone for a bit while Aidan and I run out this week for his tasks. Batching things by tackling multiple tasks for one kid on a given day has helped me immensely, and hopefully you’ve found a system that works for you without finding yourself overwhelmed this time of year!
**FOUR**
Okay, you know I had to mention it here. It was Hadestown week. And I cannot get enough. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, they did what is called a “proshot” of the live production of Hadestown, where they filmed a live showing of the original Broadway cast and this week released it into the theaters for people to see. I know this particular show isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but oh my goodness I thought it was fantastic. I had seen it live here in Jacksonville about a year and a half ago, and I was just spellbound by the talent and the way they told the story, it was so beautiful to me. So I had been waiting for the pro shot to be available to see it again. I loved it even more this time around. I decided to take Asher with me, my little musical theater lover, knowing that since he hung in there through Les Miserables live he could hang through Hadestown. He loved it.
I’ve been thinking about what it is about live theater (or in this case a film of a live theater production) that moves me so deeply. It’s hard to articulate. I think some people can see a show or a concert and think “that was a fun experience. I enjoyed that.” But it feels different to me. Deeper. Almost like oxygen that does something to revive something deep inside. I don’t go to many concerts, but for those who attend a lot of them I’d suspect it’s a similar reaction. There’s a line in one of the first songs of the show, when Orpheus is explaining that he’s working on writing a song that will be so beautiful spring will return when he sings it (the weather is all out of whack because Persephone has descended to Hadestown to be with Hades and while she’s gone there is only winter and blazing hot summer, no spring or fall). He sings:
I'm working on a song
It isn't finished yet
But when it's done, and when I sing it
Spring will come again
That's what I'm working on
A song to fix what's wrong
Take what's broken, make it whole
A song so beautiful
It brings the world back into tune
Back into time
And all the flowers will bloom
I think Orpheus is right here. Music (and I would argue, all art—beautiful writing, poetry, live theater, physical art) can heal us. Can take what’s broken and make it whole and bring our world back into tune. We saw this with the absolute joy of the ways countries celebrated their teams in the World Cup—the songs, the colors, the traditions and chants and dances they would do, it was healing to the human spirit to witness and participate in. The former president of our seminary, Dr. Richard Mouw, used to always say “the earth is the Lords, and everything in it declares his name.” He would go on to say this included music, art, nature, science, everything in it has the potential to point people back to their creator, and God designed each of us to connect with Him and His beauty and truth in unique ways. I can’t fully explain it but when I see a phenomenal work of theater something deep inside releases a breath I don’t even know I’ve been holding and everything seems hopeful and right in the world again. I believe artists are often prophets, pointing us back to what true and right about humanity and the world we live in. It was an honor and a joy to see Hadestown so up close and intimately as the cameras caught some incredible facial expressions and details you might miss sitting in the theater seats, and I hope the incredible success of this pro-shot viewing at theaters around the country means we will get more of these in the future. Bringing theater to people who might not otherwise get to see some of these shows is such a gift. (and as an FYI a proshot of the Broadway hit Six! is coming to movie theaters for a weekend in August and here in our local theaters it’s almost sold out—unless they add more showtimes when it gets closer—so if you’re interested in this super fun show check your local movie theaters the weekend of August 15!)
**FIVE**
Last but certainly not least, I have for you a book recommendation that I absolutely adored. I read this 400 page novel in 3 days last weekend because I could not put it down. First of all, I think this is just the prettiest cover of a book I’ve seen in a long time, something about the colors used just instantly makes me take a deep breath! This Book Made Me Think of You feels like the coziest hug that tackles tough topics with so much gentleness and wisdom. Also, it’s fully a love letter to books and the way books can not only entertain us but can inspire us to make big changes in our lives. Tilly is a young woman who looses her husband Joe to cancer way too young. She’s in the throes of grief when the book opens. Then one day, on her birthday in January, she receives a phone call from the owner of a local bookshop saying he has a birthday gift for her that her late husband had arranged before he died. She goes to see what’s going on and finds out that before he died Joe had arranged for her to receive one book a month for a year, books that would hopefully help inspire her to continue living even in the midst of the darkest season of her life. Of course the books chosen play a central role in helping her take steps to keep living, but also we get Tilly and Joe’s backstory interspersed throughout the book, which was delightful. Throughout her year of re-learning how to live she meets some dear new friends who are all struggling with their own forms of grief reminding the reader that we are all carrying something. I adored this book. I loved the cast of characters, the premise of a book a month, and the incredibly thoughtful way grief was handled throughout the novel. This was a huge 5 star read and will be one of my top 3 books of the year I’d bet.
Have a great week my friends, stay cool out there and thank you for reading along this week!
