Just Trying

My crazy, fast-paced, frenetic summer is coming to its conclusion.

I kicked off the summer with wedding celebrations for one bride (my friend Deb) and am finishing it off with the wedding celebrations of another (my sister, Michelle). I am Matron of Honor for both.

Sandwiched in between was Taylor’s Epic Trip (2 weeks at camp, several days in Maine and a glorious week in NYC), our family of 3’s cruise through the Western Caribbean and our Manhattan experience together.

Next on the agenda is our trip this weekend back to Maine to spend time with my husband’s family and friends during the Annual Pisquataquis County Fair, followed by a 4 day Bachelorette weekend for my sister in Key West, FL in late September.

October 2nd is my Sister’s wedding day which will punctuate the end of a whirlwind 12 months. It was just shy of one year previously that Deb got engaged and honored me with the request that I be her Matron of Honor. Michelle’s engagement and subsequent request came just a couple of months later.

In amongst all the wedding plans, special occasions and family trips, we have been living our lives. Sometimes I feel like we are barely holding onto them. The details have become buried under the avalanche of Important Events.

During these last twelve months, Taylor completed the 8th Grade, her final year of Middle School. After initially being denied for the High School Choice Program of her preference, she got in at the 11th hour and is now in her 2nd week at Boca Raton High in the illustrious STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Program. In the last few weeks, I have become much more painfully aware of how much she is growing. Not in her height, but in her faux sense of maturity that can only worn by a young teen.

Donnie and I have both been nose to the grindstone at work. We are both exceedingly grateful for our jobs, but the increasing responsibilities, which are no doubt (and understandably) due to hiring squeamishness of our respective companies, have put us on professional full throttle.

This past year, I have also enjoyed a 6 month process of exploring my writing capabilities with a wonderful and wise writing coach. The process was extremely invigorating and enforced a discipline in me with regards to my writing. As I told her towards the end of our sessions, “I feel more like a writer now, and less like someone who is trying to write.” This was another small, but important milestone tucked into the crevasses of the Mountains of Important Days.

I am thinking of all of the other small, but important moments of the last 12 months. My Father losing his job, my Grandfather celebrating his 102 year, a cousin ready to deliver her second child, a friend in crisis, another friend losing her home, a sister dealing with unemployment, another sister in marital distress. All of these are important LIFE moments - and I hope that despite all of the ‘have-to’s’ that littered my calendar, I was an adequate enough woman, sister, daughter and friend to be present for all of them.

I really hope I was.