Nicole survived her freshman year of high school and went to work again as a CIT at the Y this summer, which she'll do until band camp begins. Her academic life is still a major struggle, but she didn't have to repeat any classes, so we're thankful for that. It's just frustrating to have someone with the necessary intelligence to succeed academically, just not the personal drive to do so. She knows what she has to maintain in order to participate in her activities, and that's really all she strives for. She's so averse to studying, she doesn't even want to bother with getting her driving permit. But we're pushing back on that, because neither Rob nor I have any desire to continue to be her chauffeur just so that she can avoid studying for a test.
My life has also been fairly consumed with band stuff. I'm not just a band mom now. I got elected to the band booster board in April. The organization seems to have been suffering for a while, but didn't really have anyone who wanted to tackle the problems. Basically, the peasants needed to rebel against the long-reigning empire. Now that the empire is transitioning to a democracy, things are already starting to improve, but it's been very consuming on my part. We new board members are working to learn what needs doing from the exclusive clique that's been handling everything for the past 4-5 years. And then turning that around and becoming a more inclusive organization.
Also this spring, we had an in-ground pool put in the back yard, and even with that being contracted out, making sure everything gets done properly has consumed far too much of our time and energy. It's done now, but it will be a couple of years before the yard is back to looking like it's supposed to. It's been far too hot to do any kind of manual labor outside, so I've generally been waiting until the sun goes down and been gardening by moonlight. And I hate gardening, so it's going incredibly slowly.
This past year hasn't left a ton of time for spending on hobbies, and when I do have downtime, I generally crawl into bed with a kindle and stay there until the next morning. I haven't even had the energy or desire to plan any family vacations. I don't know when/if anything will change much over the next several years, because I don't see the load getting any lighter anytime soon. But I'll pop in when I can, just to let you know I'm still around.
I do miss you guys.
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