So.

 I cant keep up. So I’m not going to try. 

Life is full. Dance, church, Christian Formation, scouts, basketball, work, school, being. 

Yeah. It’s all there. 

But now I’m in school, too. 😊. In a certificate program at the McGrath Institute at Notre Dame. 

Yeah. 

THAT Notre Dame. I pinch myself every time I log in and the logo come up. I’m working on classes in Church history and aiming for a certificate in Sacred Scripture and/or Catholic Doctrine.  Currently I’m taking “Catholic History in the High to Late Middle Ages”.  Which seems like a snoozer…but oh my gosh …Pope Gregory VII is so ballsy, Pope Urban II has the gift of having you eat poo & making it taste good, Frederick of Barbarossa drown in a stream, Eleanor of Aquitaine married her cousin, became the Queen of France, went on a Crusade, slept with her uncle, got an annulment for cosanguity, married her other cousin (who she was more related to than the other one) and then became Queen of England. Sooo…ummm…yeah…Lest we think humanity is on the decline…we can rest assured that humanity has been a certifiable dumpster fire since the dawn of time. 

It’s fun!  

My Life in a Nutshell

 My 10 year old just requested to purchase Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” so “I can overthrow the neighborhood government “.

So…that’s how it’s going today. 

Appomattox Court House

 Did you know if “court house” is in a town name in Virginia that if it’s 2 words, as in Court House, it’s a town. If it’s one word….it’s an actual court house. Who knew?  

We finally adventured down to Appomattox Court House, VA. Like so many other places, after watching “The Civil War” eleventy billion times - we wanted to go see Wilmer McLean’s front parlor and where the arms were stacked for ourselves. Also, like all the rest of our National Parks, it did not disappoint. 

Since the kids weren’t interested in the Junior Ranger Badges, I earned one for me. 😊

It was a nice day.  A day that made all the years of carting antsy, grumpy kids all over and being the subject of judgey stares from strangers.  We hiked, we learned, we listened to a whole Tom Clancy novel and then episodes of “The West Wing” on XM.  A good day for the Dork Set  . 

We’re trying to decide where our next Adventure will be. 

Christmas

 I think I’ve done it. I might have actually figured out how to blog on the phone. 

I did figure most of it out…but the pictures keep loading at the top of the posting…so sequentially nothing makes sense   But I get credit for being present, right?  

Christmas and New Years have come and gone. I’m grateful to have our first traditional New Year celebration since 2019.  It was overwhelming to consider all that has happened since our last gathering. 

We are Umbrellas. These are Our People. In sunshine and storms. And I am grateful. 

Christmas was nice. It hit me like a brick that Caroline will be a senior in high school next year. There never will be the same Christmas twice…