Oh My! How Time Has Flown!!

I just read the date on my last blog update and realized I haven't written a post since early February when I decided to volunteer at a local senior citizen's center. Now, four months later, I have become a fixture at the center where I not only run an hour long crafts session once a week but also stick around to do many of the organizational tasks that the director and her small staff can't get around to. I have spent untold hours cleaning, clearing and organizing the crafts cabinet and storage closets and discovered lots of great materials that were being neglected simply because no one knew what was there or how to find it. The director and I have made several visits to Materials for the Arts, a organization that collects donations from private donors and commercial concerns and makes them available to non-profit groups, schools and theater companies. We have been able to score some great finds there that have been put to good use as crafts materials, office supplies, and storage. In short, I've been having a great time putting my organizational and creative skills to use in an environment where I am welcomed and appreciated. You can see the projects I have completed to date with the seniors at my artist blog, The Creative Diva.

As if I needed something else to do, I am also volunteering to decorate the auditorium of my daughter's high school for it's very first graduating class of which my daughter is a part. The mission of the school is that of environmental responsibility and sustainability so all elements of the celebration must be eco-friendly. To that end I am making paper flowers out of used and recyclable paper with which to create floral arrangements to decorate the front of the stage. Of course I've never done this before so I'm dead in the middle of a steep learning curve but so be it. When the flowers are done I'll be posting photos on my artist blog so I hope you'll come over to check them out.

After my daughter graduates, she'll be attending college in North Carolina and will be leaving sometime in July to get settled into her new role as an adult. In the meantime I will be settling into my role as a mother hen with one less chick and I'm looking forward to the quiet in my chicken coop.

Another news-worthy occurrence since my last post is that my son returned to college after a few years of not knowing quite what to do with himself. His first attempt was not successful because he frankly didn't want to go to school. After dropping out, going to work, getting laid off and spending a long time unemployed, he finally decided he was ready to take another stab at college. I'm happy to say that he seems much more settled and comfortable this time around and I hold great hopes for his success. In due time he, too, will be leaving the nest whereupon this old bird will be doing the empty nest happy dance. Oh yes, I'm looking forward to an empty nest in spite of everyone telling me otherwise. I've lived the last 30 years mindful of my responsibility to the needs of others. I'm ready to finally live for myself. But until my nest is completely empty, I still have to contend with the droppings.

Somebody, hand me a shovel, will ya?


Ballo ergo sum,- Gitana, the Creative Diva

The relentless passage of time

A week ago a milestone was reached in my household when my 17 year old son attended his senior prom. The months of anticipation, preparation and agitation finally came to head when I drove him to the place where the limousine would make the first of several pickups on the way to the banquet hall. Seeing my son in his tailored suit, surrounded by a bevy of beautiful young women, I acutely realized the passage of time. No longer was he the cute, chubby toddler with the devilish eyes and the dimpled chin. Now he is a handsome young man with a nascent beard on his chin, still sporting those beautiful devilish eyes. You can see pictures of him in my Photobucket album. Just click on the link in the box at the top of the right hand column.

His graduation ceremony at the end of June will officially mark his transition out of the ranks of childhood. That countdown began when he stepped into that limousine and said to me, "I'll call you" as the door closed and the car pulled away. Yes, he did call me that night, several times, in fact. When he came home at dawn, tired and grinning, I knew there was no turning back. In a very short time the transformation will be complete.

As a mother, I've always considered it my responsibility and my privilege to try and prepare my children for this transition. I've done my best to teach my kids what they need to know in order to navigate this sometimes scary world in a safe and sane manner without me there to guide them. But there is something in the process that I was not aware of, something that totally blindsided me and caught me off guard. While I was preparing them for life without me, nobody was preparing me for life without them.

I still have one more to go. She will be graduating high school in another three years. Surely I will have prepared myself for the adjustment by then. I can only hope.

Ballo ergo sum,
Always and all ways,
- Gitana