One Time At Band Camp.......

Here's a brief recap of Jordan's Band Camp...ahhheeemmm....Percussion Camp.

Sunday: Get there, check in, auditions, unpack, walk around campus, go back to room, stall...stall...stall.....leave.....cry.....(me - not Jordan - did you read the monitor story below?)

Jordan calls us after his dorm orientation, and all I remember from that conversation is, "We have to wear flip flops everywhere, even the showers, because someone had Staph last week."

PERFECT!

Now, I've left my child many hours away in a Staph infected dorm room. Mother of the Year Award, here I come. I'll be available for speaking engagements in the Fall.

Oh, one more part of that conversation I remember went something like this:

Jordan: And we get to order pizza and Chinese food and have it delivered to our rooms (in his most super duper excited voice).
Mom: You know you have to pay for that, right?
Jordan: We do?
Mom: Uhhh, yeah.
Jordan: Oh (fantasies of uninterrupted flow of food deliveries crushed)

Mom thoughts: Okay, Jordan seems to be a little confused about where he's at. He seems to believe that he is at an all-inclusive resort instead of band camp...sorry...PERCUSSION CAMP. For some, the Staph talk would have been a dead give away.

Alright, things start looking up by Monday. He was already learning so much and started making friends. He was even invited to eat lunch with some of the high school kids. Go Jordan! He also visited the "store" and picked up some percussion lover's goodies.

The rest of the week went pretty smoothly, aside from the fire alarm sounding while Jordan was in the shower. Luckily, it was just a false alarm.

The days were filled with lessons from very talented and qualified musicians. They had concerts every evening. He even managed to squeeze in sending a letter to his sister, which absolutely made her day. Typically, she creates her own "mail", runs it out to the mail box, waits a few seconds, runs back out to the mail box, and retrieves her "mail". She was ecstatic to have a special letter from her brother. She was definitely missing him.

So, we were all very excited and anxious to pick him up on Friday. They performed a concert, and he played Timpani. He did awesome. I'll post the video later. Overall, it was a fabulous experience for him. It gave me just a glimpse of what's to come in a few very short years.

I wonder if they make monitors for that???

Girlfriends

If I was Michelle Obama, I'd be giving "daps" or "pounds" to my girls for the Friday play date that was thrown together at the last minute.



But, Michelle Obama, I am not. So, I'm sure they will be fine with HIGH FIVES all around!

We always have such a great time getting together, even if it's only for a couple of hours with kids running and screaming all around us as they climb up, in, around, and through large plastic tunnels that have who knows what spread up, in, around, and through them, all while being enclosed in a small area that undeniably has taken on the scent of French fry grease and sweaty children. Mmmm, heavenly....

But seriously, we'll take what we can get!

The important thing is that it gives us a small opportunity to soak up some adult (female) conversation time, in between the tattling, crying, spilling, injurious moments, and the every few minutes of scanning the room to make sure your child is still there.

Now this isn't any ordinary conversation. This is speed talking at its finest, tweaked to absolute perfection. The condensed explanation of this "Mom Talk" is as follows:

• Approximately 3000 words spoken per minute


• A minimum of 15 topic changes per minute


• Multi-task maneuvers (i.e. little Johnny falls on his head and mom is able to pick him up, kiss his head, and send him back off to play, all without breaking the flow of the conversation)


• Mom-to-mom break-ins (a/k/a "interrupting")

I think I speak for all of us (big shocker huh, Girls) when I say that we truly cherish these moments. Unfortunately, we had one MIA this past Friday...we missed you, Tracey.

Okay, so I'm chatting away with two of my girls, telling them all about how I've successfully broken the co-sleeping habit I started with Kinsley (another mom.....NOT SO MUCH!) Anywho, I'm telling them how Kinsley is sleeping in her crib now and how initially I was sleeping in the bed that's in her room, and now I've transitioned to the couch and fully expect to be in my own bed (co-sleeping with my husband) in the very near future. So, as I'm waiting for my pat on the back and affirming looks, I get a "Why are you sleeping on the couch?" I explain that it's because it's closer to her room (I'm thinking - duh...I mean she is ONLY 6 months old and my room is like a gazillion miles away from hers). Okay, I'm waiting again ever so patiently for my friends to be so very proud of my accomplishment, and instead I get, "Get a monitor." Can you believe that? Get a monitor??

As if a monitor is going to save my sweet, precious, perfect child if something happens. I didn't think so. The way I see it, I'm shaving AT LEAST 5 seconds off of my response time by sleeping on the couch.

But wait, it gets worse.

One of them goes on to say, "Ummm, you're acting like a first time mom." Then they look at each other agreeably and snicker....SNICKER! I kid you not!

Yeah, I know.

Now, I'm not gonna mention anyone by name here, but I will say one of their names starts with an "A" and ends in "I" and has an "ng" in between. The other one's name starts with a "K" and rhymes with Tristen...and that's all I'm sayin'.

"Get a monitor"..................PAAALLEEAAASSSSE!!!!

Alright, in all seriousness, I absolutely love these girls. I love that they will tell me when I'm being ridiculous. I love that they WILL NOT just say what I want to hear. I love that they genuinely and truly want nothing but good things for me. When they say they are happy for me, they sincerely mean it. When they say "if you need anything, let me know", they sincerely mean it. We have moments of absolute hysterical laughter. We have moments of incredible depth. There is trust, compassion, and respect deep in the roots of our relationships. If you don't have friendships like this, you gotta get some!

I'm thankful for all of you, and I value our friendship so much.

(For a great message on Friendship, go here.)

Go Averi!

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