Elena 
As expected, the new school year went into full swing the week after the wedding and all of the magic of preparation and festivities faded away – FAST!
The newlyweds are happy in their new apartment and to quote my new DIL, “Killing it!” They have work, groceries, laundry, and all of that household stuff figured out.
It’s a new life for me and Mr. Pete as well. Noah did a lot of chores around the house. The main one was taking care of the dog, Sophie. I take her for a 1-mile roundtrip walk every morning. The girls let her out several times a day and Mr. Pete gives her a quick walk before he goes to bed. I am happy to report that there has not been one accident with urination or poop since Noah moved out. Sophie is an old girl at 14 and if she couldn’t wait to go, she was very good at hiding it. But of course, we’d figure it out! But she’s been letting us know and there hasn’t been a problem.
Of course, I also miss our discussions. Noah was a philosophy major and I miss his philosophizing over just about everything at dinner time. It’s just weird without him.
Noah was my only son to enter the next phase of his life right from home – kinda like I did over 40 years ago. Plus we had the pandemic together too. So maybe that’s what makes his leaving sting just a little bit.
But what helps is our family group chat with all the kids and my daughters-in-law on it. I feel like it keeps us more connected. Frankly, it’s made me feel a lot closer to my DILs too, and I just love that.
Cross Country
Rosie is running cross country for her senior year. I probably mentioned this once before but, I think the fact that she is running at all is nothing short of heroic. She came back after a grade 4 tibial stress fracture that robbed her of her entire junior year season.
The more I ponder her high school experience the more I have to pump myself up to be excited about it. From the coaching to all of the injuries and everything else it has been grueling as a parent to go through it all.
I’ll share more on that later, but right now I’ll just say that my girl is happy, in a good mental space as well as physical space, and I think she’ll be a happy walk-on runner for some lucky college.
The Queen
I’d be remiss if I didn’t say something about the passing of Queen Elizabeth.
We have an old tin that belonged to my mother. She probably got it as a souvenir when the Queen had her coronation back in the ’50s. It fascinated me as a little girl. She was so young and beautiful. What was that like to be a Queen too!
Elizabeth R was a contemporary of my mother’s. She wore tweed skirts and blouses just like my mom did when she taught school. I remember in 1969 when she put a crown on Prince Charles’s investiture as Prince of Wales, she even looked like any of the moms I knew back in Michigan. Quiet, dignified, classy, and yet very mom-like.
Of course, I loved Princess Diana, but as a mother of four sons, I understand the queen’s feeling of annoyance with her as well. It’s not easy to watch someone hurt your son. It’s not easy or fun to watch your son act like a jerk either. Elizabeth didn’t always hit the right balance there, but in the end, I think she did right by both her son and her late DIL.
Maybe the greatest takeaway from watching Queen Elizabeth grow old and die gracefully was that she didn’t dread it, she faced it head-on. My dear Aunt Dorothy once told me that as she got older she continued to make plans and if she lived long enough to do them, that would be great. If not, that would be okay too. I think if two great ladies from two totally different worlds can both successfully head into old age and eventual death that way, that’s probably something for the rest of us to learn from!
