May

The bulk of us celebrated Mothers day at G-Bobs house. We grilled burgers, played Cornhole and discussed whether or not the resident cat is actually male. Margie and I are not convinced.

We continue to enjoy our Sunday Dinners and took to the dock after supper on Seafood night. Brett bullied me and I sat upon tiny Ellen's shoulders. She's abnormally strong. 

Brett continues to work from home where he has joined me in the flower shop, become ecstatic about gardening, tested many recipes and taken to learning to handstand.

Mom hosted a tea party for us gals. Georgia, Carolyn, Margie and Ellen (and their assorted children came over) and we drank quick sips of tea between bouts of baby wrangling. It was adorably chaotic and I enjoyed spending a little time with Owen and Ethan. I feel bubbling pride when I hold these little fellas.

Little did I know I'd get to hold them again a few weeks later during a bust of a kayak adventure with Jordan and Alston. Little Ethan is sweet and serene. Own is a wiggly and busy, Giant White Baby. 

We call him GWB.

Brett and I stole Clint and Susan's boat from our own backyard and took Jeff and the boys out for Memorial Day weekend. To the men-folk, it was a fun adventure of a day. To the lone female with shockingly maternal instincts, that was crappin scary and dangerous and I don't think small children that don't know how to swim should be boating or swimming with their goofy dad and long-legged uncle.
We did swing by Papa Union's house on this grey, choppy day at sea and found Lee out fishing as usual. Lee has the miraculous ability to pull fish from our dock even though no one else really ever has and our neighbor Jeff looks over in outrage every time. Jeff tries and tries to catch fish. Lee Lee really puts him to shame.
Lee pulled up a redfish just in time for the boys to admire that "dock monster."

Brett continued to bully me. 

Lastly, and most important, Papa Union had a very sudden back surgery. There he was, minding his business with his tingling legs and numb toes when his doctor called on Friday afternoon. Doc had just taken a look at Dad's latest x-rays and noticed a chunk of bone pushing in on the nerves in his spine. At noon Dad called Ellen and I on a joined phone call which is a scary thing for a parent to do with any sort of serious tone. By 3:00 he was checked into the hospital and hooked up to machines. Us gals didn't like it. He had his surgery early the next morning and everything went well. Right away his legs stopped clenching and twitching. He's gotten a bit better everyday and now has a big bionic brace to wear to keep his back properly supported. He's not allowed to do much and has limited mobility but Big Mama is taking great care of him and makes sure his superhero tendencies don't get the better of his healing time. We knew Dad was feeling much better by the end of this week when he looped back around to bathroom humor and asking Mom to change his diaper.
He's got 12 weeks of recovery ahead and we're just not sure we can keep him still for that long.

Big Lu's Book of Nonsense

Can you tell that my blog writing efforts are getting even more puny? It's cause I've been writing big stories. You know how I always said I would write big stories and maybe even a book someday and then I'd start writing chunks of it and claim "I'm doing it!" but then it would fizzle out because I had a long way to go and real life would get too busy and then a year passes and maybe you (because certainly I did) wondered if I'd ever actually do it?
I did it. And I've been final drafting and editing lately so when I sit down for blog time I'm out of gas. And I promise the whole thing isn't a big run-on sentence like I just wrote up there. It has 23 chapters and probably too much punctuation. My very last thing to do is to reassess my abundant use of commas and finally look up how to properly quote and punctuate dialogue. It's different everywhere you look so I've always done my own thing ... because who really cares?

There are two things I'm happy about.
First, I'm happy to have written all of the stories throughout my twenties. If I was a mile-marker person I'd say I'm happy that I wrote a book before I turned thirty (just barely) (and I think I mean mile-stone person ... but who really cares?) but really, it's that I like the idea that these were Big Lu's observations and thoughts when she was in the earliest stages of adulthood. I like the thought that I'd do it again, maybe during my forties, and see how my outlook has changed. Or just gotten grumpier.

Second, I like that after all these years complaining that I would write a book if the world would slow down for a second and I just had more time, it turns out I actually meant that. Once my weddings deserted me I really got to work and was surprised to find that I wasn't entirely using real-life-busy as an excuse to avoid something challenging. Look at me having a pinch of motivation. Additionally, Big Mama told me I needed to be using this time to write stories and she picked out her favorite ones to get my little writing train on its tracks.

I have two stories left and then this ten year process will end. For kicks I'll see about getting it published but it's an unpopular genre written by and unpopular person so the likelihood isn't great. During my research about publishers, editors and agents I became obsessed with all of it and got stressed and defeated and cranky. It's not easy to get a book published, especially if you're a nobody. I got so wrapped up in meeting the industry's standard requirements that suddenly I needed to write the next great American-novel-turned-screenplay and I hated it. That's not what I write. Most people don't get me as it is. How am I supposed to write a book that them'asses will like? I had to let go of the idea of "success" in order to continue writing the book. Which is very me.

HonBons: Spontaneous Weekend Edition

There we were, sitting on the couch on a Thursday wondering what Don and Laurie might be doing when Dad said, "I'm going to invite them for the weekend."
Mom said, "Oh boy!" followed by "But it's too short notice. No one just leaves town the next day. They need time to think about it."

Don and Laurie arrived the following afternoon dressed like this.

We passed a few days like we always do, with sweet snacks and mobile conversation. We sit and chat here. We sit and chat there. Have a snack, play some cards, let's go sit and chat. 

I've been meaning to write my HonBon post for a while now, and each time I sat down to mull over what I learned, that same wonderful things happens where I can't really remember what we talked about. And certainly someone was talking the whole time. There were discussions about recent babies and new aches and injuries. I outlined my failures as a wedding professional and they told me some new songs to listen to.

Mom and Lollie and I went for a walk one day to pretend we were warding off the effects of the snacking. Dad and Don ventured off for man-time things and Dad's hunt for a freestanding cooler.  Eventually we all came to Black Pig Farms so Laurie and Don could admire Brett's assortment of house projects. So we sat here for awhile, you know, to chat.

Finally, baby Olivia got to meet her future favorite people and they looked so happy to hold that tiny bundle. Then Lee held a living room concert and we ate key lime pie.

And just as quickly as they arrived, Mama and Papa Hon pulled out of our driveway and back into the real world with its germs and rules and priority tasks. You forget about those kinds of things when the Hons are around. They create a vacuum of lightheartedness that allows your brain to ignore anything it would normally be fussing over. I'm not really sure how they do that. If they could bottle that magical power the world wouldn't need vacations or anti-depressants. It would just need Don and Laurie. And some sweet treats. And some time to sit and chat.

April

It was only the best month in some time. We lazed. We snacked. We did lots of house things. Hayden and Jenny got married, we spoiled baby Liv, had some dock time, and took pups on adventures. I shall hereby remember April 2020 as the month that no one really went to work and stores were closed and each day was it's own kind of oyster. I told Dad I wasn't ready to get back on the hamster wheel. "This is what life should be like. It's so peaceful and full. I don't want it to go back to normal." He rudely responded by telling me that I've never been on the hamster wheel.