The Week that Was

Tori is home from camp. Kat is home from camp. The summer theatre season will end in 2 weeks. And I just realized that school starts in a month for all 3 of the girls. Where did the year go? Tori is going to be a senior! Where did my life go? Am I really old enough to have an adult child? Don't answer that!

I am suddenly having the standard parent moment of "where did the time go? Did I spend enough time with my children before they grew up? Have I properly taught them the skills to be productive members of society? What mistakes will they make? Have they learned from my mistakes? What will I do if they move out of Pocatello?" These are just a few of the questions running through my head.

I think my concerns for my kids have to do with today's sermon. At our church we are in the middle of the Blockbusters series. Simply put, take the top movies of the summer and find the spiritual undertones of said movie. Today's movie was "The Proposal." And Karl, our worship leader and today's preacher, focused on the family aspect of the movie. So he talked about the importance of family in spiritual growth, both the biological family and the church family. Hence the questions about my parenting skills. I'm not perfect and I know that. But was my best effort good enough? I sure hope so. I probably won't know for a few years.

I have raised these girls alone for the past 13+ years, so I am all full of doubt. I do know one thing though. If I didn't have my amazing church family, my chances of the girls growing up right would have been slim to none. They may not have their fathers in their lives, but they have so many father figures at church that it's crazy. Sam and Tori even joke that they will have to pull a name out of a hat to decide which one of the men at church will walk them down the aisle at their weddings. Talk about family!

My church family has seen me through some very bad times, and some amazingly happy times. And I thank them for that, and will be eternally grateful for them. So if you have a church family who is there for you, take a moment and thank God for putting them in your life. I know I do.

And Yet More to my Week

I usually don't post more than once a week (if I'm doing good), but my week has just gotten more interesting. And again, I will NEVER say that my life is boring!!!

Sam's car has been acting up, so she took it into the mechanic yesterday. She has a very interesting problem with her Camaro. She has no fan. You know, the fan by the radiator that cools the engine when it gets too hot. It is not in the car. The mechanic said that when it fell out, she would have known. She would have freaked out and called me in a panic, so I'm thinking that the fan was gone when she bought the car. Since it sat in the driveway from September till June, we have no way of knowing. Add in a belt that was screeching, and we are looking at $400 in repairs. Yay. That is one week's pay for me. We have set up a payment plan with the mechanic, who my father has been going to since before I was born. So she is without a car for a few days while they find a fan for her car. She has had her first real dose of real life, and she doesn't like it. Time for the budget talk. Ack. I so am not ready for this. She is a free spirit who must spend the money she has RIGHT NOW!!!

Tomorrow is Friday. I would love it to be a "boring" day. But who knows.

What a week!!!

I know, it's only Wednesday, but my week has already been full of excitement. Remember a few posts ago when I said I felt boring? God has been showing me just how unboring I really am.

On Saturday Mom and I drove to Ketchum and back to pick up Kat from church camp and drop off Tori at the same camp. For those of you outside the great state of Idaho, Ketchum, also known as Sun Valley, is about a 4 hour drive from Pocatello, where I live. So we had an 8 hour drive on Saturday. It was actually a fun drive. My family has a lot of fun on car rides. My mom was counting the dead skunks as we went along, and Tori was tweeting the count. I think we were at 8 or 9 by the time we hit camp. Then, of course, Kat talked our ears off about camp the whole drive back.

Sunday I did multi media at church. Plus we had baptisms, and I help the people who light the candles for the person being baptized. If you would like more info on this tradition, just comment and I will explain further. Plus I had to do treasurer stuff after the second service. So at one point I was up in the sound booth and down in the worship center at the same time. Can you say clone me for multi ministry? After church I just relaxed because I was completely shagged out.

Monday started out normal. Until I got to work. For some reason, everyone needed to be in my office all day. My stack of stuff to do kept growing but I got nothing accomplished. The funny part is that on my drive home (1/2 hour) I remembered a part of Sunday's sermon. Easy to remember, since I heard it twice. Karl was preaching about the movie "Night at the Museum 2" and was talking about his daughter's pet chinchilla running on it's wheel. Then it hit me. I was that dang chinchilla on a wheel at work.

Tuesday started out very bad. I woke up to a dead laptop and a dead guinea pig. Ick. And, I couldn't dispose of the rodent because the 13 year old was spending the night at my mom's, and I have disposed of a dead rodent without the girls' knowledge before. Not pretty. The hysterics are much smaller with discovery than an empty cage. So I left it. Got the magical phone call in the afternoon. Tears for a bit, then over it. She even went to a friend's house and spent the night. And I have to come up with the money to fix the laptop. I would love to just get a new one, but I think it will cost a little less to fix the old one. Then the 19 year old calls saying that her car randomly turns off when she is driving. It is in the shop right now. I am not looking forward to that one either.

Today I had to help coordinate CPR training at work. And at 3pm, I suddenly decided to take the training too. I left work at 6 instead of 5. Can you say tired?

The upside to all of this? I discovered that I am NOT boring. And, God, I am sorry for saying that. I am an interesting person who has a strangely exciting life. No, I don't go on exciting vacations to exotic places, but my life is very interesting. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

Here's to loving life, whatever the circumstances!

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Kat is at camp this week. I really do miss her. I know that she is having a great time, but the house is too quiet. Tori is (of course) hanging out with her friends. She did do some laundry today to pack for camp. Sometimes I wish I had time to do laundry. I'm just glad that my girls have learned to do their own laundry. I just have to fight my way to the washer.

By the way, I am loving my new job. I fit in, personality wise, and am picking up on the routine and procedures quickly. The best thing I have heard is one of the ladies that works at the temp agency told me that she met one of the guys that works for another company that is associated with the farm I work at. He raved about the great job I was doing. I was convinced that he didn't even remember my name. That makes me feel like I am really doing the job I was hired to do.

Don't get me wrong. I still want to combine my IT degree and my Theatre Management degree. I would LOVE to work in professional theatre as a geek. And a House Manager. Or a Box Office Manager. Or any type of manager. I manage. It's what I do. Of course, I am amazed that I am organized when I manage, but my life is so disorganized that I can't keep my children's schedules straight, much less coordinate them. Maybe it's the difference between work and personal life. I don't know.

Someday, I keep telling myself, I will do my dream job. Not sure if that is IT director for a professional theatre, or for a church. Either one works for me. But, until that happens, I love whatever job I am doing. The main thing is the people. I love the people I work with, and I will always cherish the memories I will get from this job. Did I ever mention that I am learning about the world of farming? Grew up in Idaho, lived in farm land for 22 ish years, never learned much about farming and the complexities. Who knew?

Back in the Biz....sorta.

For the past couple of years I have talked about getting back into theatre. I'll audition for a play at Westside. Maybe I'll see if I can usher at ISU, yada, yada, yada. But that's all it has been...talk. Until now. Sammee has been working full time at ISU this summer as the Company Assistant for the Summer Repertory Theatre. She called me today to ask if I would help usher for some shows this summer. Upside, free admission to the show. Downside, can't really think of one right now. So I said yes. Partly because I love my daughter, and will help her in any way I can to succeed in what she wants to do, and partly because, it's a foot in the door, and I may be able to help more in the future. Fast forward a couple of hours. Kat and I brought popcorn up to the PAC (Performing Arts Center, get used to the acronym), because Tori felt that all of the out-of-towners needed to experience Popcorn Shop popcorn. While talking to the producer, Chad, I offered to House Manage if he needed it. He said "Okay, you're on." So I am now house managing. I am not sure if it is just for Seussical or for the whole season. I'll find out tomorrow.

For those of you who don't know, 20 years ago I graduated from college with a BFA in Theatre Management, fully intending to be running a theatre some day. 20 years, one marriage, one divorce, and 3 daughters later, I had not worked in theatre since graduation. But the drive and hunger were always there. I led the Drama Ministry at church for a few years, and dabbled in improv. But I never actually got to even try to work in the field that I went to school for for 4 years. I kept vowing that I would do something in theatre, but, in Pocatello, the culture capital of the world (hahaha)? Luckily for me, a friend from college, who became a professional actor, decided to start a professional summer theatre here in town. Plus, I seem to have become friendly with the staff up at the PAC.

I know, this is not running a theatre on Broadway, but the bug has caught me again. I just hope that Sammee doesn't think I'm trying to muscle in on her turf. So tomorrow I reenter the wonderful world of theatre. Don't forget to tell me to break a leg.