Graduations Galore

It's graduation season and we have two graduations down with one to go. Nolan graduated from Trevecca a week ago Saturday (the 8th). We didn't go to his commencement due to limited seating but we did drop by his parents' home for the graduation party afterwards and had a wonderful time getting to know his grandparents who are in from California. We were also there that Friday evening (the 7th) for a family wedding shower in Jenna and Nolan's honor. This was also a lot of fun and we have enjoyed meeting some of Nolan's extended family which included two aunts, an uncle, and a cousin who flew in as well as his three brothers who live locally.

Jenna's pinning was Thursday evening. She wrapped up her classes this week and will now turn her attention toward studying for the NCLEX exam.

Nate had three AP exams last week and is done with his classes. He will have to return to school for graduation rehearsal but his classes and our carpooling days are over. We rode together for the last time Friday as he wanted to be part of the Last Hoorah or field day at school. Nate has run his last track meet of his high school career. He completed the 3200 m run in 12:33 and set a new personal record of 5:33 on the 1600 m run. What a great way to finish up!

Sunday before last (the 9th) was Mother's Day, of course. It was odd not being able to celebrate that with Mom this year, but with things the way they were a year ago I suppose last Mother's Day was sort of a dry run for things to come in that regard. Jenna cooked a nice meal for Vicki and we all enjoyed honoring her as the matriarch of our little clan. Nolan spent the day with his family since he had so many relatives in, however, Mei Lin spent most of the day with us which made the day all the more fun.

One change here on the farm is that the old stock barn that stood across the road from the house has been torn down. I have no idea how old that barn was. I would say it was built in two stages because the main part had a central hall that ran perpendicular to the road with three or four stalls on either side. The loft was still about half full of hay. There used to be an addition built behind that which was more of a storage shed. When I was growing up an old truck was parked in the front part of the barn and one of the first model Gleaner combines was parked in the back. We sold the combine for scrap metal years ago and the shed fell down soon after that. Later I noticed the loft beams starting to give way so Jackie pulled the old truck out. Now the old barn is a pile of scrap wood. I ran across a picture me taken in 1971 with that barn in the background. I was amazed not only how large the barn looked then but also how much the trees have grown around it in 50 years.

We made one change here in the house that has made all the difference and made us wonder why it took us 26 years to do this: we took the pantry door down. I think I remember trying to take it down once and having trouble with the screws holding the hingers to the door frame. I should have tried harder then because having that door down has really opened the space up. So we are laughing at ourselves that it took us so long to catch on to that one.

In the humor department, we've also gotten a laugh out of the pair of wool dryer balls that we have. Vicki bought these some time ago and they just live in the dryer to tumble around with each load of laundry. I've come close to naming them because it is so easy to imagine that they have personalities of their own with both seemingly bent on escaping the dryer. Sometimes only one ball is in there and you never know where its partner has gotten off to, then it magically shows up. Other times I've been folding towels only to see one scurry across the floor as if it is hoping to escape my notice. On other occasions both are AWOL. The other week we had washed our sheets and in putting the sheets back on the bed with found two stowaways hiding, each in a separate pillowcase, as if by splitting up they have better chances of evading capture and return. I've thought about sticking some googly eyes on them for fun but the plastic would probably melt.

So, there's a peek of life at our house as we enjoy the last of what has been the normal rhythm of school years since Jenna started kindergarten in 2003.

Joe