SNOW DAY and more ...

Our first official Snow Day, no school. The 6:15am phone call mentioned it, the bells rang out the news @ 6:30, and the neighborhood EBS (loudspeaker) made it official - Schools Are Closed Today! So, as I do every weekday morning, make the coffee, listen for the shower, trudge outside to play "remote starter" (yes, I turn his car and heater on, I know I'm way too nice). Today was different though, there was a few inches of fresh snow, so I got to shovel too. I'm not complaining here, it was awesome. This stuff is not like the Sierra Cement I'm used to, this is light, powdery, scoop and flip snow - it's beautiful! It's just a bummer that two kids are still sick - guess it's just me and Alexander for the snowball fight.

Here's the other thing that's been on my mind lately - college planning and all that comes with that. A few of you have already been through this process, and I'd appreciate your insight. We have a plan (or should I say, have hired a Planner), so I feel a sense of relief that the t's and i's will get respectively crossed and dotted and to schedule. Having someone affirm that "your grades are the most important thing your Junior year" just makes me look good. So with the "plan" in place, he can now focus on making himself a great applicant for the schools he doesn't know he wants to go to, to major in a subject he's not sure about, so that he can start a career in a field he might not even know exists. Can you imagine being a teenager today? No wonder he gets that glazed look when we start talking college. I vote for a mandatory 2-year, post-high school "Go Live In The World" requirement!

But more than the nuts and bolts of 'the process', I can't help thinking about how he got here in the first place ... how he fought so hard to stay alive, how he has weathered every storm and wrestled with every boulder put in his path, how his heart has remained so huge and warm and open, how he has the capacity (read: confidence) to walk into any room and be comfortable in his own skin, how much he still likes to tell jokes (even when they're just not that funny), how he loves to bug his brothers, how he still asks for a hug and hangs on, how much he is my family. I think part of this 'process' is also mine; I need to make a 'plan' to let go.

Have a fab day!

xoxo P