a little update

It has been a long time since I’ve written and I’m not sure if anyone will still be around to read this, but I am going to try to catch any stragglers up on what has been happening.

The tall hormonal kid and the small squeaky kid have both stopped growing and are taller than me. I no longer feel like I have all the power. And their ability to argue against everything that they are asked to do continues to improve in creativity. It doesn’t get them anywhere, but it is interesting to hear.

The tall kid has discovered rep hockey and rugby, so we are on the road a lot. This year she made Team Ontario for rugby and won the provincial championships, which led to her being one of 60 girls chosen from across Canada for the selection camps for Under 18 Team Canada. Now the 15 year-old has an eating plan and a training plan that will be monitored as part of the selection process. That is interesting. Have you ever seen a teenager give up junk food willingly? This coming weekend she will be playing with the Eastern Ontario team at a tournament in NYC. It has given her many opportunities to travel and meet new people and we are all having a blast. Last summer we drove to Nova Scotia to watch one of her tournaments. The hockey travel has mostly taken over now (last night we had our first drive through a winter storm to a hockey game) but there is still rugby filling in the cracks.

The small(er) squeaky kid has a new horse and continues to take lessons and pony club and enter into occasional shows. She started playing rugby too this year. Her big sister was excited until I nixed the idea of using her for tackling practice.

The dad has sold his old business and bought a new one. It’s keeping him busier than he anticipated, which is excellent any way you look at it. He also has a few staff now and therefore the freedom to take time when he needs to drive the kids to their various sports. Mercifully he hasn’t attempted to grow a mustache this year for Movember.

And I am now a stay at home mom. The leave from work became permanent because of changing health due to MS. It took a while to adjust and cope with the change in circumstances and health, but I think I am as close to being back to normal as possible. I took lessons and had hand controls installed in my car, so I’ve gained my independence back again. I was also referred to a doctor who helped with pain control, set up occupational therapy and physical therapy and has made suggestions that led to a lot of improvements. I have my independence back and am even going to the gym three times a week and using a personal trainer. Nothing can stop me now.

I stopped writing because I was no longer doing a lot of the things that I wrote about, but I think that we occasionally manage to do something interesting that will make it in this space. Hopefully it will also be entertaining.