The Summer of the Old Lady Bathing Suit

Yep...I had a good run.
It's over, now.

I went bathing suit shopping, and the result was discouraging. 
I'm not "that girl" anymore, I'm "that woman".  I'm "Ma'am".  It's official.

I will miss the youth and all the perks of knowing I could eat anything I wanted and wear anything at all.
I can still wear clothes, but that is now limited to "full coverage". 

I have never been defined by my looks, per se. 
Some people are surprised by the amount of confidence I've always had and I think that confidence is a result of not really worrying about my looks. 

I guess there are certain rights of passage that we all must go through.  Summer is a time when these types of passages occur for me.
Summers of childhood were long and hot.  The grass was always really green where I grew up and there was a lot of clover in the yards.  I spent time outside in a neighborhood in Wappingers Falls NY from about my 10th or 11th summer.  We played kickball, and I had a crush on the boy down the street.  I was the skinniest girl on the block...almost famous for being really skinny with a really grown up "big girl" singing voice.  I also had tons of hair 
Those were innocent, lovely times.

Memories of Adolescence are accompanied by Summer Adventures, too.  I remember the smells and sights of the world awakening in a new way as I fell in what can only be described as "First Love" and shared long days with boy who I remember fondly.  The music of those summers still takes me there and I am always happy to be still in those moments of sweet memories. Summer Love lasted into the Fall and Winter of those years, and when that first love faded, summers became filled with friendships that last til this day.  Summers spent getting ready in the evenings to go out dancing with my "gang".  Showing up at the club with my girlfriends, sharing the same fake i.d. hoping for a glimpse of the guys we had crushes on and thinking we looked real cute in our outfits.  We knew we turned heads and that made it so much more fun. 

Summer of High School Graduation brings back all the memories of the heady feelings of having my whole life ahead of me and wanting it to get started already. Summer at the Shore with my best friends living it up as carefree as one could be.  It was truly the Summer of total freedom.  We still bore people with tales of our adventures as we lived life on the edge of what was going to be acceptable come Summer's end and we would all go our seperate ways.   I was still in a "regular" bathing suit then...I remember seeing women in the Old Lady Bathing Suits and thinking, that they must have let themselves go...turns out, they did.

They let themselves go to their lives...to their kitchens, to their kid's schools as volunteers.  They let themselves go to the size that required maternity clothes and back to regular clothes and back to maternity clothes again if they were lucky.

Maybe they let themselves go to the doctor and heard bad news and had to let themselves go to Chemotherapy and Radiation.  They let themselves go to a place of healing and let themselves go to a place deep down inside that they didn't even know existed until they had to fight for the chance to let themselves go some more.

They let themselves go to fine restaurants every once in a while and maybe one great vacation or more over the years. Maybe they let themselves go to Paris once, or to a Graduation Party for their oldest son.  They let themselves go to reunions with friends that always revolve around a meal.   They let themselves go to New York City to live it up every once in a while and eat fancy food and drink good wine.
They let themselves go home to the house that they created and to the warmth of being married, happily for what feels like 100 years.  100 years that passed in the blink of an eye until one day they went shopping and had to buy "the Old Lady Bathing Suit".

I am so very happy that I "let myself go" if this is the place I have gone.  I love Summer.

Quote

"There are things to confess that enrich the world and things that need not be said."~Joni Mitchell

Summer Camp is a Hit!

Rosey loves Disney's Cinderella Kids Summer Camp at the Fountain Inn Civic Center for the Arts!
She hasn't shown any interest in Theatre up until now, but the socialization is important, so we decided to go ahead and enroll her and hope for the best.  She auditioned today and she was cast as Suzy the Mouse.
She's excited to be participating. 
She told me that Regan was cast as a "Village Screamer", but upon further investigation, I found out Regan was cast as a "Town Crier"...needless to say the mix up cracked me up, "Village Screamer" sounds a lot more like Regan than "Town Crier".
So that's what's going on in the Pelicano House this week.
A couple of hours of work at the Theatre Shop organizing Props, lunch with Lucas and a sleepover with Regan's friend Cassidy tonight. 
It's like having a regular "non homeschool" life again.  Busy but fun!  I think this will be a wonderful summer for all of us.

Reformatting

We're counting down to our Summer Vacation.  I decided to lighten up the look of this little Blog, and that goes with my latest life theme of lightening up.  I'm trying to lighten up in every way.
It began with turning off Facebook and that gave me free time with less clutter in my mind.  It really isn't important to know everyone's "status"...people write what they want you to read, and I am trying to eliminate anything that isn't "real".
I feel lighter...I feel like I can indulge in an hour or two in my art room with Rosey, or Regan or both and just journal or create on canvas. 
I take some time out each day to consider the upcoming Season at F.I.R.E.  I look over my scripts, and my notes and think about how I will attack the many things that are in store for me to help the Company move forward in a way that is true to our mission.  That doesn't require being plugged in to what people are saying on Facebook, and as a result of signing off, I'm less distracted.
The pool is open and the girls start Summer Camp on Monday.  I have a few things that I need to get done before we leave for our vacation at the end of the month, so I'm taking time to do them, and trying not to put things off.
AND THEN THERE'S THE CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL...
I watch it like I am one of the expert commentators and that I may be called upon at any moment to be on air at In Session.
I have it on in the background all day when I'm home and I watch recaps at night when I can sneak away.  It is an obsession.
I am totally able to do two things at once, and I know that by the very nature of the media, I can't really miss anything that I can't catch up on later, but the thing has me mesmerized.
Why?  What is it about the macabre story of evil that keeps me tuned in? I am fascinated by the human condition in all it's forms. Is this so against nature, a mother accused of murdering her child? It makes me consider the absolute boundless love that I have for my children a gift.  It is not something that automatically occurs by virtue of giving birth.  Maybe that's why I feel so free to "mother" other people's children in the context of mentoring them at the theatre, when it's appropriate.  I am blessed with the gift of "motherhood".

Quote

"I prefer men who have a future and women who have a past" ~Oscar Wilde

Monday Highlights and what's to come!

So it's been a week since the big FB sign off.  No big deal.
We finished the "homeschool" year with little flourish and learned a lot about ourselves and each other.
I watched the Pelicano Men come together and care lovingly for their Dad who had major surgery.
The pool is open.
We dined with friends on Friday and had a really great evening.
I had lunch with my friend who is leaving to spend the summer in France with her family.
Zachary and Mackensie returned from their week at the beach.
F.I.R.E. and FICC had an evening at Downtown Alive with some serious "people watching".
I am in the middle of trying to compose a schedule for the F.I.R.E. 2011/2012 Season and make sure that I hit all the high points of my responsibilities there.
Looking forward to a busy couple of weeks as Rosey embarks upon her first Summer Camp at F.I.R.E.'s Disney Cinderella Kids Camp.  Regan will be a volunteer assistant.
Lucas has his RUSH concert Wednesday night.
That's what's happening.  I'll get into the details as the weeks go on, but if I was on FB, these would be the bullets/status/newsfeed items.

Morning Coffee

Maybe the morning is better for blogging. I have a few minutes on a day like today when David has gone over to the office and the kids are still in bed.
Let's try it...
It is officially summer in the Pelicano House at 420 Rochester Road. School is over and I use the term "School" loosely. We "attended" South Carolina Connections Academy this year and everyone got what they needed academically, but it was not an optimum situation for children who are being raised the way I am trying to raise these kids. I hope to raise citizens of the world and this was not the way to do it. That being said, I learned a lot about myself, and the kids.
My kids are brilliant, beautiful, multi-dimensional people and they are to be shared with the world, not holed up in a house "learning". There is only so much one can learn in isolation.
The Fall will bring changes to the Pelicano family that have yet to be defined, but I know they'll be exciting and huge...
Rosey is awake now with $5 that the Tooth Fairy left. She's down three teeth now and is starting to worry about nutrition as the ability to chew becomes more limited. The two front teeth missing have totally changed the way I prepare her sandwiches. I chop the cold cuts up before I put them between the bread so she doesn't have to "chew" through. A little chopped salami made all the difference.
So the quiet blog time has ended as the barrage of questions begins...what are we doing today? Are you going out tonight? What's for dinner? Where's Dad?
Happy Thursday!!

Quote

"Lost time was like a run in a stocking. It always got worse."
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

1 Down!

So I made it through my first day without the FB connection...whew!

It was weird. I am used to little bits of information creeping in as I anxiously check my news feed, and there was none of that.

I baked a cake. I made dinner and waited for my husband to come home because I felt as if I had barely communicated with anyone all day. I am never really alone, but there was no barrage of outside information coming in so I was a little bit "at loose ends".

This is going to be an odd foray into the past as I wonder about my FB friends and what they're up to. I will be updating this little blog tonight, as I gather my thoughts and try to make it worth reading.

I think this post was in response to my habit of a FB status update in the morning...
Baby Steps!!