There's Nothing to Do!

Oh, the good 'ole summer time. In May I was excitedly counting down the days with my kids. We were all so excited to be finished with school. I was daydreaming of staying up late and sleeping in. Of getting all of my stalled projects completed, Imagining all kinds of little day long adventures here and there. Museums, the zoo, etc. Weeeeell, that's not exactly how it's been playing out. David's been working non-stop and the kids don't seem to want to get out of their pajamas and into play clothes. My projects are still on hold and the house looks like a high powered explosive has been detonated leaving behind a massive fallout of toys and clothes and mismatched socks.

I can just hear you now: "Well come on, girl, get a move on...there's no time to waste. Summer will be over before you know it!" Yeah, yeah...I know. I should. Problem is, we all seem to be in the same lazy frame of mind around here so we're all enabling each other. Many mornings I've bounced eagerly out of bed (at 10am) and rubbed my hands together as I tried to motivate my troops. "Ok, kids...what are we going to do today? Want to go to the water park? How about the Children's Museum?" My kids: "Can't we just be lazy and then go fishing in the afternoon?" Of course here is where I should probably take the bull by the horns and say forcefully, "No, by golly, we are going to load up the car and head to the pool and have fun and get all sun screened and then sunburned anyway and waterlogged and have FUN whether you want to or not!" But alas, no. I can't bring myself to say it. It's just not in me to push it these days.

This is not to say that we aren't having fun. We are having a blast. Last weekend we did a little 'staycation' in Galveston at the San Luis resort. If you've never been, you should go. The pool is great and the service is impeccable. You should have seen our little diva, Mattie when the pool attendant came by with little cups of complimentary frozen grapes. She told him "Don't go too far away, please...I'll probably need lots more of these." Ha! We swam and swam then had dinner at The Steakhouse restaurant there at the resort. It's my absolute favorite local restaurant. Steaks that melt in your mouth. Yumm. Spent the evening poolside again then went to Rainforest Cafe the next day and it really felt like we were far away instead an hour's drive from home. Great times and wonderful memories of standing at the end of the jetty watching our kids commanding the waves to splash them or get bigger (the waves obeyed, thank you, God). Still...we were all eager to get back home.

As I'm writing this there is classical music tinkling quietly in the background and the kids are in various states of dress (boys barefoot in their PJ's and Mattie in a ridiculous pair of overalls and a tank top with sparkly silver sandals) outside fishing and playing in the sand pile. I served breakfast this morning to two medieval nights in full battle gear and one princess wearing a fancy tiara. (I was the serving wench complete with English accent, thank you very much). Tonight I'm planning an extensive fancy dinner consisting of grilled burgers, baked potatoes and corn on the cob. David may or may not be home in time for dinner. He'll be here when he gets here, I guess. The house is still a mess but all of the pertinent parts are clean. I haven't bothered to put in my contacts or put on makeup or in any way made the effort to be cute today. There's a beautiful freedom in the fact that I am just as loved with or without all of that. Hectic days with their schedules and demands will return. We'll be busy packing and planning for our vacation in Maine, soon. For now, though, it seems there is nothing to do.

Yep...I'm going to get right on it. :0)

Blessings,
Cat

Dave rocks! That's how he rolls...

Here it is...summer again. Honestly, I love summertime. Some of my favorite things about summer are: Having the kids home, staying up late and sleeping in, having no real structure to follow, watermelon, afternoon naps, fishing, and fireflies...etc. If it weren't for 100% humidity, mosquitoes, bickering children and sunburn, summer would be my favorite season. This year, though, something is missing from our usual summer fun. Daddy. David has been working a turnaround (a process where they shut down equipment, do required maintenance, and then re-start the equipment at chemical plants and refineries). This requires him to work constantly at weird times with hardly any time off. For the first month he worked nights only with no days off. It's getting (a little) better now and the end is in sight. I miss having him around. It makes me realize how much he does around here and how his contribution adds so much to the function of our every day lives. And I just miss him.

And so...I'm using this forum to heap praise and props on my husband. David being David, will hate this and it will make him profoundly uncomfortable. Me being me...I will do it anyway and hope he will recognize why I'm doing it and will find it in his heart to forgive me.

For those of you who know him, I'm sure you'll agree that God really outdid Himself when He came up with the idea of creating David. Guys like him are few and far between and I pinch myself often to be sure I'm not dreaming that I have been blessed with him as a husband and partner. David and I are living proof that not only do opposites attract, they work very well together, David is: Patient, pragmatic, easy-going, accomplished, conscientious, highly intelligent, strategic in his thinking, loving, thinks carefully before he speaks, is slow to anger and I've never (really, NEVER) heard him raise his voice in the 16 years that I've known him. Remarkably, he just doesn't have to. I, on the other hand, am a dreamer, am easily excitable, a creative thinker, very social, rarely know what I'm going to say until I've heard myself say it, get occasionally exasperated, have great ideas but lousy follow-through, have been known to raise my voice either in excitement or in anger and generally have the nervous system of a Chihuahua.

From day one, he has been the best friend I have ever known. He knows where I came from...my past failures and mistakes and yet he has always chosen to see the best in me. He has loved and prayed for me through difficult times of fear, pain and heartache. Through personal crises and losses. Through the roller coaster of infertility and the miracle births of our children. He is always there. Steady as a rock. My biggest fan and supporter. In some of my darkest days he has believed in me even when I wasn't sure if I believed in myself. He is nothing short of an amazing human being.

Once, early in our relationship, we were taking a walk near our Condo on Padre Island in Corpus Christi. I was going on and on about all of the great things I could see in our future. We were walking past these big, beautiful waterfront homes and I was excitedly babbling away saying things like: "I think we can have it all. The fairy tale...I love you that much! Our lives are going to be so great...(yadda, yadda...)" We walked along quietly, hand in hand, for a minute or so after that and then he said something to me that I will never forget. He said, "I'll tell you what, Cathy...you build the castle and I'll be the foundation." He says cool things like that.

Here we are many years later having just celebrated our 14th anniversary on May 24th. I feel like we have it all. By 'all' I mean most everything we have been praying and dreaming for. If it never gets any better than it is now...it's still way more than I'd hoped for. God has been so good to us. Notably, we have been really good to each other. That makes a big difference.

Father's Day is coming and I want to send a shout out to David Kingsbury!! If everyone had a dad like David the world would be a happier, more secure, more loving place. As Dads go, I can only think of one better. Our Father in heaven. David is a selfless, loving, fun and dedicated daddy to our kids. Even the dog is ridiculously devoted to him. We are blessed, indeed.

You may think I'm going to give David a big head with all of this gushing praise and attention. I'm not worried about that. He's not one to take on about himself...that's why I do it for him. :0)

Yes, summer is here. This weekend we will go to Galveston and then in August we're off to Maine for a couple of weeks. We all can't wait to have David back and to spend some family time together hiking around the shores of coastal Maine. Maine rocks! So does David. Happy summer, everyone!

Blessings, Cat