Seriously lonnnggg post

Well it looks like we have a winner! haha... the last one i expected! :) So I guess this bright, glitzy, razmataz will stay.. for a while anyway! LOL ! It IS fun though, isn't it!? :D Well no pics today.. i'm having enough trouble just typing tonight - so gonna stick to the basics! It's been a whirlwind of a few days, to say the least! My oldest son, Gavin, turned 18 on tuesday!! WOAH. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?? I think someone must have done the math wrong!! Just doesn't seem possible!! But regardless... according to most people's math, he IS 18! And of course knows EVERYTHING. (don't all 18 year olds??) AND he's a GUY... which means his ego/vanity/superman complex/and cockiness are all battling for top slot, and which one will rule on any given day is something to lay bets on! Sigh. But ... all that aside, he's a GOOD kid!! That other stuff will all tone down over time, but good morals, character, common sense and intelligence will last a life time!! I'm very very lucky! I've learned a LOT from him!! (and questioned my sanity many times over the last 18 years!) And i know he will be great out on his own! No qualms! Yes... the basic mom things... a few concerns here and there... yes i'm going to miss him something fierce... but i can deal, and i know he'll be great stepping out into the big bad world! He's got sooo much going for him, so many things i totally admire and am proud of! Several things i know he is going to have to learn from the school of hard knocks... and i just hope that he learns them sooner, rather than later... and that the knocks aren't TOO hard! haha! But don't we all hope that for our children? I had been "collecting" a bunch of little things... kitchen utensils and gadgets, pot holders, can opener, silverware, you know.. all the things you need and don't realize how often you use, until you don't have them?! As he's been talking about moving out "on his 18th birthday" for sometime now. And since guys don't get "hope chests", a laundry basket filled with neccessities is as close as i could come! LOL But things changed about 5 days before his birthday. New things came up... other ideas we hadn't heard about before, possibilities turning into realities... things that made Dan and I both irritated and frustrated and surprised! So we put our heads together and tried to figure out the right approach to all this daunting new information. It was Sunday afternoon and it finally hit us!! Some of the new information was that he was thinking about moving to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands! He has a buddy that moved down there with his family a while ago. His buddy and him WERE going to be roommates, until buddies life was turned upside down by parents moving to the virgin islands! LOL Then buddy followed and loves it. Buddy has been egging Gavin on to move down there and room together. Buddy lined up a job for Gav, buddie's parents are going to house them both for a month while they save money and get their own place. All this 5 days before Gav's birthday, and he shared he was planning on moving in with his biological father. (won't even go there!) He was also trying to buy a car AND change jobs while moving. No stress, huh? Boy was i ever confused!!! LOL His "plans" all sounded contradictory to one another.. although he was heart set on doing them, and wouldn't listen to wisdom. We were hoping we had made the right choice in what we had decided to do! So... i was somehow lucky enough to hang out with him for half the day on saturday, and then again most of the day Monday! (he NEVER chooses to just hang out with his mom!!!) And of course since i was running around trying to get things in order for his birthday on monday, he decided to velcro himself to me and not leave my side!! I don't think he was too thrilled with all the "apartment stuff" he got... lol... BUT that had been his plan up until a week ago! And we had only decided to do what we did after hearing of his change of plans! I think we FLOORED HIM. We bought him a ticket to St. Thomas. For any date he chose, any time before December 15th. So he could choose his own time frame. Stay for a few months and save money... move in with his dad.. whatever. And still have the ability to follow his dream before the responsibilities of "real life" and living on your own stole it out from under him. We told him we loved him, and we supported him in whatever choices he decided to make, and wanted to help him get started on his first adventure! Yah... we floored him. LOL :D Well ... can't believe it, but he decided to "chill" with him mom all day today also! The kid actually had a few days off for the first time in forever, and he chilled with me?! Lil' ole me?? Yes... i'm smiling. Yes, i thoroughly enjoyed his company! Yes.. it's been far too long! And yes, now i'm going to miss him even more! LOL Once he got over the shock of the ticket, and decided NOT to buy that car... and why move out, just to move 10 days later? And got his head around it, he said... let's book this baby!! "If i'm gonna do it, i gotta do it BIG!" lol He's leaving in 3 weeks. We booked it today. :) He's so excited he's coming out of his skin!!! I'm sooooooo excited for him!! AND he's already scheduled to take some classes at the university there! Praise God! He's not totally walking away from schooling! LOL And talk about a life experience! Holy cow! I think i'm jealous!! hahaha! We got home, got dinner on the table and then headed out to back to school night for 2 hours for our middle schoolers. And we have to change three of their classes early next week... so have to get in and get that hammered out. HOly shamoly, it's been A DAY! I is one tired puppy! And tomorrow morn/afternoon is my hooking group that meets monthly! ahem... and i have no idea what i am bringing to work on, since i just finished my beaver valley rug!? No clue. I have 3 more that are in the works that i need to finish before the end of September. But they're all pretty labor intensive, with LOTS of different wools, and i just can't cart them down for the day. Too confusing! LOL Sooooo... i dunno? Mebbe i'll just bring the BV rug to start whipping? OH AND i heard from Jule Marie today!!!!!! Camp is Oct 1 !! VERY excited!! :D Man... soooo much on my brain right now... and being very ADD to boot... well i am having a hard time staying focused on any one thought for very long right now! I don't know if ya'll will hear from me much in the next few days. I need to remember to breath. And hopefully just take it all one step at a time! LOL It's my full time job to be pulled in 30 different directions at once by 5-10 people at a time. But somehow right now it seems three times as hard as normal! Breath IN. Breath OUT. Repeat. Or is it breath IN, breath IN, breath IN, breath out? And then look for a paper bag? LOLOL See ya'll soon! xo Bren