: Kirstin seems to be doing really well this
: summer, as far
: as being more flexible and mature. I think that rocks. Tell
: her ik miss
: her. Has she ahd a chance to look at the email from me yet?
She's read your email and was delighted to hear about the monkeys. It takes her a long time to compose email replies, though, and we were out of town all weekend. Hopefully you should get something back soon. This is her first time having email, and she finds the typing to be a bit difficult.
: >Forest has been wonderful with her.
:
: GOOD!!! Are you still thinking that he might be a lifetime
: commmittment
: possibility? I really like Forest.
I really like him, too. Forest is definitely a lifetime commitment. I think we were just plain made for each other. Things about him that would annoy me in another person seem to bring about patience I never knew I had. It's wierd; and it's not even hard. He just *fits*. The coolest thing about him is that I don't have to give up any of myself or any of my ideals to be with him. There aren't any little adaptations or compromises between us, as far as the terms of the relationship go. I get all the openness, love, and trust I could ever have wished for, without even having to ask. It's wonderful.
: Kirstin was telling me chicago is a really
: nice place
: (from what she saw when you had to go get Forest in the middle of the
: night.) Maybe she would really like it. I hope you have a
: nicer time than
: I did when I went to get my passport!!!! Where were you going to go
: camping?
We were going to go to Silver Lake, but it thundered there all weekend, so we're glad we didn't. I ended up finding a hotel for $59 a night that was really nice! (Cheap because we took a cancellation room). We had a good time; although I think Kirstin most enjoyed swimming in the pool with the other kids, which we could have done in Lansing! Oh, well. We went to the planetarium at the end of the pier there, which is really cool. They had all sorts of awesome interactive exhibits, and an entire room of Hubble telescope images that were stunning. We thought about the Field Museum and Shedd aquarium, but the lines there were long, and we didn't have ThAT much time. We went shopping, and ate in some nice restaurants together. It was pretty fun, although I think next time we go to the city we will go in the middle of the week to avoid the crowds. The traffic was awful. We got home to discover that something has contaminated the city water in Eaton Rapids, so we can't drink it. I'm glad we were gone. No one knows what happened or when it will be fixed. Ugh. I'm afraid to brush my teeth with it!!
: I wish I could go to Kirstin's birthday party. I am sending her a beautiful postcard for
: her birthday,
: but I dont know if it will get there in time.
We wish you could be there, too, and Jim! That's okay, we'll all get together as soon as you get back and cook out. That would be fun. As it is we are developing a bit of a crowd, and I'm starting to get concerned about how I'm going to pull this off at the end of a very busy week. I've got to haul wood, mow the lawn, re-dig the firepit, play bells in a wedding, wrap presents, buy food and supplies, and set everything up on Saturday and Sunday before 7. It just gets uglier and uglier.
: I have been thinking a lot about priorities while Ive been
: here in Japan,
: because I am not in charge of my schedule, and I am realizing
: how much I
: need to be in charge of my time. Do you ever want to refocus?
I have felt that way often in the past. I used to center my life around change. I liked things to be hectic, always growing and learning and moving, and focusing on different things when I felt like it from day to day. This past year I threw all my previous priorities aside to focus on Forest and Kirstin and building a life with them. Bell choir and taekwondo happened on the side. I made the people I love more important than work, than paying bills, than anything. I really like how that feels. Now I'm going to see how things go if I add the chaos of theatre back into the mix. I have my fingers crossed, but my heart firmly at home where it belongs. It's almost an unwelcome interruption to my rather calm and blissful life; however Forest has reminded me that it's something I love to do, it's only 6 weeks, and we'll be okay. I believe him, so I'm doing it.
I don't know if I could handle not being in charge of my own time. I thought about going to a seminar for just ONE WEEK during which I would have had to run around on their rigorous schedule and wouldn't have had a single minute to spare; and I realized there's no way in hell I could do it. I'd always be thinking of home, and I'd always be wishing for an hour to climb into a corner and curl up with a book. Maybe I'll be ready to turn my eyes outward someday, but not yet.
: >I just got cast in a play
:
: Congratulations. You told me about the dining room, and I
: look forward to
: seeing it. Jim and I will still probably be very poor
: then--do you get comp
: tix? Also, which theatre company is doing it?
Tickets are regularly priced at $5, but I'll see if I can get comps. The show will be in Bath (where I've worked a LOT in the past few years), and the name of the company is Bath Community Theatre Guild. We just had our first rehearsal last Thursday, and I think it will be a lot of work, but fun. We rehearse Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays, so I will have Tuesdays to give to my home life, and that's about it. It will be a huge change for us; thank heavens it's only 6 weeks.
: Forest is a good guy. What is he up to? Will he go back to
: school? Does
: he still work at Olgas?
Forest is managing his dad's Store full time this summer, as he always has since he was 14 years old. Actually, that lasts until sometime in October, when they will close the Store for the winter, and then he will go work at Olga's. He was hoping to go to MSU this fall, but financially it looks like we might have to wait until Spring. It's pretty expensive, and he used a lot of his scholarships up while he was getting his associate's at LCC. He has been waiting this long because his parents' taxes are a mess, and he needs that information for his financial aid application.
He doesn't want to take out any loans for school, so getting it paid for will be a real challenge. He has two years to study and then will need to student teach and pass boards (or whatever you call them) before he can start working. He figures he'll get that done in more like 4 years, since he wants to work full time, too. I think I can support him at about 25 hours, but we won't know that for sure until we know how much classes will cost out of pocket. It also depends on when Master Kim decides to retire. If Forest is taking Master Kim's place and getting paid as faculty for teaching TaeKwonDo, that's a nice way to make the rent at night and go to school during the day.
Maybe by the time he's done with that, I'll feel ready to finish my degree, and it will be my turn. I don't know, though. A bachelor's degree just doesn't seem that important to me right now. We'll see. I know he will help me with it whenever I want to go.
It's back to the grindstone around here this week. Forest is working a lot to make up for having been gone this weekend, and I have to be in no less than three different places tonight at the same time. Mom is ringing bells with me tonight and Thursday in preparation for Saturday's wedding, which should be fun. Tonight, however, I have to go to Taekwondo and take my test at 5:30, cut class right after my test to be at bell choir at 6:30, and then I'm supposed to be at play practice from 7 until 10. I think I'm going to call my director of the play and just let him know that I couldn't get rid of all my committments on such short notice. I think he will understand. And I'll just be a little on the stinky sweaty side for bell choir rehearsal. I'd really like to have dinner with mom and Kirstin in there, but that just doesn't seem to fit.
Other than that, work is relatively uneventful, and my bosses are all on vacation this week, so I'm doing all the silly things that I've been too busy to do. I'm cleaning my office, rearranging the server room, wiring up a new hub, and so on. It will be nice to have these little nagging items off my plate.
I think I've guilted mom into emailing you. I didn't do it on purpose, but I mentioned that you had emailed a few times, and gave her an update (corroborated by Sam) on what you'd been up to and your plans for the weekend. She said she was really starting to feel like a putz (I don't remember the exact words) for not emailing. I really need to go install a modem on their computer at home, so she can connect there, and teach her how to do it.
Kirstin and mom are at vacation bible school this morning, and hopefully having a lovely time. Tomorrow I will have to interrupt that to take Kirstin to get her stitches removed, but she'll only miss about a half an hour, so I think that will be okay.
Forest's parents are getting legally divorced after 27 years of marriage. They're both pretty shaken up by it, and they're doing all the stupidest things they could possibly do. Neither of them really wants the marriage, but they're both struggling against it ending out of some sort of habit. Still, their kids all agree they should have done this ten years ago. Hopefully it will all be over soon. Right now all they're doing is causing each other and their kids a lot of pain. Forest can't wait for it to end. I tried to point out to him that this is just the beginning and there is lots of healing to be done after this, but he's sure that property settlements and legal freedoms will make many things better. I hope he's right.
Bill and Kathy are driving back today from his cousin Dina's wedding, which took place in Alabama this weekend. They were looking forward to the drive, since they went with no kids, and hadn't had adult time together in some time. Still, Alabama in a single weekend is a long haul.
Bill bought himself a motorcycle, against my fervent wishes otherwise. He admits that he isn't good enough at driving it yet to have a passenger, so I haven't had to deal with Kirstin being on the back of it yet. Still, I'm not real happy about the prospect that it might someday happen. I think I might say it's okay around town at slow speeds, but if they leave Eaton Rapids, they should take a car. After what happened to Steve Botti, motorcycles scare me. (I know Steven had been drinking... but still, that sort of thing can happen.)
I haven't seen much of dad; he and Suzi have been painting their condo, and last weekend Kristin came up for a visit, and they planned a day with her at the lake. Dad is really enjoying not having that commute; when I talked to him last week it was 4 PM and he was already at the condo, country and western music blaring, and Suzi laughing in the background. I haven't heard him so relaxed in years. He also finished reading the book I gave him. I haven't seem him reading in probably a decade. I think it's a nice change.
Forest and I are hoping to get in another day at the lake with dad and Suzi this summer, but I'm not sure when that will be. We're quickly running out of weekends. Still, Forest wants to try waterskiing again, if only for his amusement at dad's character. He thinks it's hilarious that dad would watch one after another of us wipe out, and laugh unabashedly each time. That's our dad!
I can't think of much other news on the home front. No typhoons and no monkeys here.
Love you, Wendy
