Home Alone 2

This morning I find myself home alone in my house again after dropping off both kids at Lacy Elementary School.  Today is MC's first day of Kindergarten.  It's her assessment day, which doesn't last quite as long as a full school day.  They "stagger" the assessment days of the new kindergarteners according to their last names.  After completing all the assessments they will assign the children to the teachers for the year.  We will know who MC has for a teacher next Tuesday, and her first full day of school in her new class will be next Wednesday (Sept. 1st).  It was a little strange sending her off down the hallway, but she and I were both ready.  Hard to believe my little girl is in "real" school now.  As for the rest of my day, I will go to work for three hours, and then it will be time to pick her up again.  Then we go back 90 minutes later to pick up her big 5th-grader-brother from his second day of school. 

Home Alone

For the very first time since we moved into this house almost exactly 9 years ago, I will be spending the night alone here.  James is out of town on business and the kids are in the mountains with my parents.  It is a bit strange, but good.  I called two different friends to see if I could arrange an evening out, but neither was available tonight.  After the second said no, I decided I should just stay at home and make the most of the experience. 

I arrived home by myself around 3:00 this afternoon.  I met M&D at the Farmer's Market in Greensboro to hand over the kids, their packed belongings, and a few items requested by my parents for me to bring from Raleigh.  I had a meeting with a fellow vestry member to discuss some timely church things from 4 to 5 and then came back home.  I got to talk with James on the phone briefly, and then ate the leftover pizza in the fridge.  It was way more than I needed, so my plan is to not eat any more tonight.  I debated about taking myself to Taekwondo, but decided against it.  I sat in the recliner to catch up on some reading and found myself taking a nap.  After about 30 minutes, I woke up and was ready to read some more.  I've been walking around, making a list of things to do tomorrow, drinking water and digesting my pizza.

I've checked in on Facebook, read my dad's blog, and sat down to blog a little myself.  I saw where my Uncle Bill quoted someone on FB as saying, "You have nothing to prove and no one to impress."  He said he had heard it recently and thought he'd pass it on in hopes it would provide encouragement to someone today.  If no one else was encouraged, I certainly was. 

I do spend a bunch of time thinking more about trying to impress other people than having something to prove, but sometimes that too.  I like to think that I am above trying to impress others, but I'm really not.  I guess it's okay if someone is impressed with something I say or do, as long as my intention for saying/doing it was genuine.  Trying to impress someone else is not the reason I should be doing something.

What I was reading tonight was the book of James in the New Testament.  "Be ye doers of the word and not just hearers..."  That's the main point James tries to make, I believe.  So tonight I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my time alone.  What I do should not be to prove anything or to impress anyone.  I am happy to have this unique opportunity tonight.

Traveling with Technology

Tomorrow we leave for Huntsville to pick up Jay from Space Camp, where he's been this week.  It will be the first time in a long time that we will have made the trip with only one kid in tow.  I remember how much easier the trip was with Jay when we first borrowed a friend's combo TV/VCR.  We plugged it in and set up that big ol' thing on the floor of the back seat of my Honda Accord, with two or three video cassettes in our traveling media library.  We later invested in a portable DVD player with a case that could be strapped to the back of the front seat.  Our media player and units had become much more compact.

For this trip I will take along my laptop to play one or two DVD's.  (Our portable DVD player literally burned out.)  I have also just downloaded a new app on my iPhone based on the PBS Kids show SuperWhy.  It's for early reading skills development.  I've just now shown it to MC so she can try it out and she's having a hard time putting it down.  I think it will be a big hit for the ride.

Of course when Sarah and I were little our travels consisted of playing games like travel Bingo and the license plate game and the alphabet game and even Bonk (I think) where we tried to be the first to spot VW bugs and buses.  And of course the singing of our entire Girl Scout Camp songs library!  But that's the key.  There were two kids in the car for those trips.  With our two kids in the car, it's easier to pass the time without techno-gadgets because they have each other to talk to.  MC is particularly full of questions that she likes to ask over and over again at this stage of her life.  I am taking advantage of all the technology we have available to make this trip easier on my sanity.