News & Notes, Getting There Edition

It was another relatively quiet but still busy week as we count down to Disney.  It feels a little like the duck floating along the water peacefully but having its feet kicking furiously underneath.  It doesn't look like a lot is going on, but everything still feels a little frantic. There are so many different little details that need to be worked out before the trip, from uniform buying to school supplies to items for the trip, so as we work through the days I'm also trying to check things like that off the list where I can.

I got a little bit of a cold last Sunday, but thankfully seemed to fight it off enough to stay fully functional all week.  It's still hanging in there with periodic waves of sniffles and usually a single sneeze, but all things considered it's not bad, just getting to be a bit of a drag at this point.  Aside from keeping up with Jacob's practices and trainings, Craig's PT appointments for a torn labrum in his shoulder, Carter's week of soccer camp, and a busy week of work meetings for me, there wasn't much else of note, mostly because Carter's baseball ended up canceled both days last week due to weather.  One day it lightly rained all day and must have been just enough to keep the fields wet, and the other there was a downpour later in the afternoon that did us in--but of course it ended up being a gorgeous evening right after that.  Go figure that they didn't cancel one night this week when it was pouring, but we all left after 20 minutes anyway.  The weather has been super frustrating like that lately.  I think Carter's soccer camp gave up for week two because even a couple nicer days ended up indoors despite them intending to be outside as much as possible. 

It was much the same on Saturday, which was my second family reunion of the summer (at the same place as the last one, except we were over by the cabins where my dad's cousins were staying).  The storms initially came through around midday, making travel to the reunion a little harrowing for some of us.  Then we got a little break, but it was quite breezy and the waves on the lake were pretty high.  Carter and I went down to scope for rocks and glass and the water was so much higher than it had been a couple weeks ago.  The strip of beach where I normally sift through the stones to find the good stuff was completely underwater in most areas.  The water was also significantly colder than it had been after the heat wave two weeks ago!  We didn't spend long down there and still found some fun rocks but just one tiny piece of glass!  Craig and Jacob left early--the yellow jackets were bugging Jacob and there wasn't a lot for him to eat, so they went to get him pizza and hang at Craig's parents' house 20 minutes down the road.  Just as dinner and dessert were ending the rain returned, so that was our cue to have them come pick us up.  Frustrating that it had to end like that, but I suppose the day turned out better than forecasted.  We spent some time back at Craig's parents watching baseball, and headed out around the time this gorgeous sunset was happening over the lake.

Sunday was a little more quiet.  Craig was in Utica for work so it was just the boys and me.  We had gotten Carter's school supplies earlier in the week but the store where we needed to get his headphones was randomly closed early for inventory, so I made a trip out to get those, pick up Jacob's new suitcase, and use my $10 birthday Kohl's cash, which ended up being an extra pair of sunglasses for about $2.  I also drove Jacob nuts agonizing over getting his uniform pants ordered, so now we wait for those to be delivered and hope something fits!  Carter's and my "wet shoes" for Disney have been figured out (yay Target clearance and great Amazon reviews of Teva dupes!), so I'm hoping those work out better this time.  I still can't find a school supply list for Jacob, so that's nagging on me a bit.  Maybe high school doesn't have that?  Jacob's last school had a list by teacher on their website, but I vaguely recall having basic supplies and then scrambling that first week to get whatever my teachers wanted beyond that.  So maybe we're stuck doing that.  Even still, I feel like there are so many little details to work on, not to mention loose ends at work that need tying up, over the next week and a half.  I keep having waves of anxiety just thinking about packing and traveling and the super-extreme heat that Florida has been having.  It was so hot last year, and lately it's been even worse--like 10 extra degrees of an already high heat index.  I don't know how we'll do it if that doesn't ease up a bit.  Oh, and then this morning I saw there's tropical activity in the Gulf.  Cool.

Fortunately, the annoying weather pattern we're in threw me a bit of a bone on Monday.  I was going to Buffalo to meet up with my college roommate Mary and see one of our favorite bands, Needtobreathe, who was playing at the Erie County Fair.  Since our entire region was left off their fall tour, we were thrilled to find out they were coming to the fair, but it was a little odd because it didn't show up on their website until the last minute.  The fair was promoting it so we figured it was fine, but even up until the week of, we were sort of like, "Are we sure this is happening?"  The forecast was iffy (again) and it was an outdoor venue, so we were a tiny bit nervous and came prepared for rain, just in case.  I took a half day from work (which was shortened due to a meeting that ended up having to be scheduled last minute and then went late (of course)), so I got there by around 3:30, saw Mary's parents, toured their new house, and met their new dog, and then we took off.  Her parents just moved to Buffalo last year to be closer to Mary's brother and his kids, which is nice because it may create a couple more opportunities for things like this.  

It was cloudy and on the cool side, still a bit humid but not unpleasant.  After doing a couple attempts to find parking, we finally got in and wandered off to find food.  Never a bad thing to have fair food as your dinner options!  I went with a trio of Buffalo-themed pierogies.  We walked around killing time before the grandstand opened, catching up on life.  Turns out Mary has joined my unfortunate club of disordered taste.  She noticed a change in January after a bout with COVID.  She has an odd taste in her mouth and things just taste differently to her.  She's lost her taste for sweets and certain staples like tomato sauce or Pepsi just don't work for her anymore, which is tough since her palette and texture tolerance were always a bit limited anyway.  It was interesting talking to someone else who deals with something along the lines that I do--having to select foods based on odd criteria and having the overall experience be disappointing.  I feel terrible for her because I know how hard this can be, but maybe even worse than I feel for myself because having things you used to love taste gross has to be so frustrating.  At least for me, things may be disappointing but I can still derive some pleasure from them and they're generally not a negative experience--to the contrary, I can actually eat things I probably couldn't before because I can't actually taste the parts I don't like.  It's definitely not one of the things I ever wanted us to have in common.  We may have had a shared third brain in college (haha--that was the running joke anyway, that we were too smart to have one shared brain so it must be a third one), but this was not something I ever thought we'd share.  Still, we had a nice time catching up on the past year or so (since the last Needtobreathe concert last May) while we walked and waited.

The concert was really great.  Despite it being cloudy the whole time, and possibly feeling a couple drips, it never did rain and the show was amazing as always.  And our seats...well, they were pretty great, too!

Definitely never been this close!

The show was so good--a nice mix of songs even though they have a new album coming out in a few weeks, which can always make things a little precarious!  They always put on a great show and the lead singer, Bear, sounds exactly like he does on albums--such a distinct, awesome voice.  The whole crowd was singing along most of the time, and while it wasn't huge (probably because it wasn't on their site--duh!), it was a very passionate, happy, appreciative group.

At one point Bear came down into the crowd, and before we knew it he was coming up the aisle right next to us!

Mary was on the end and I have the most comical video that I will spare everyone--I was so shocked by what was happening that I quickly started a video but was awestruck by the moment in-person and lost track of what I was filming just as Mary high-fived him!  But I did catch her shocked face afterward, as well as the super happy/shocked/thrilled girl behind us who looked like her life had absolutely been made by that encounter.  It was so great but I couldn't stop laughing at how it all played out!  It was such a fun show--they all are--but that was a first!

They really liked being up on those speakers!

Here's a sampling of my favorite moments:

At the end they did an acoustic encore with just the core band members (minus one guy whose wife is about to give birth), and it was so lovely.  They're so fun to watch but when they strip everything down to the acoustic stuff, which they usually do in some form at most shows (sometimes even without microphones!), it's really moving and beautiful.

I really had some peaceful moments in the midst of the show just taking it all in.  I was there with one of the dearest friends I've ever had, on a pleasant evening, listening to one of our favorite bands singing songs that reflect a deep faith and rich life, with the midway rides lit up in the distance.  It was so beautiful and soul-enriching.  Sometimes we just need those almost-surreal moments in life, away from the daily grind and immersed in a magical moment in time. 

After the show we took a quick walk around the midway.  I love the lights at night, and it's always fun to see what rides they have.  Admittedly, I'm sort of fair-ride-ed-out after the state fair a couple years ago.  I feel like Carter and I got our fill of those types of rides (and I probably picked up fears of a few that didn't feel particularly safe to me), but it was still fun to see. 

One of my sentimental favorites, beautifully lit up!

Always love a good ferris wheel!

As we made our way out of the fairgrounds, we heard fireworks, and sure enough, there they were!

I was sad it was over, but what a great night.  And as I drove home past the Buffalo airport, I couldn't help but remember that two weeks from that day, we'd be taking off from there.  Yikes!

So, here we are, less than two weeks out.  As I mentioned, I'm battling some anxiety and general adulting issues currently.  I think I'm just nervous about all the things and I'm fixated on the stuff that needs to get done, and all of that is so exhausting that other things (like cleaning and clearing up piles throughout the house, and anything else that's happening beyond the first day of school) are taking a back seat.  Oh, and I think our fridge is slowly dying so I'm debating how much of an issue that might be since we can't get the new one until the week we get back.  I sort of want to make sure the noises I'm hearing currently don't indicate that it's going to overheat and/or pose some sort of danger, but I also don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks for someone to shrug their shoulders and not have any answers.  Just one more thing I didn't need.  Of course.

More Disney overthinking to come...stay tuned!