Late October / Early November in In the Meadow

I wanted to remember all the service members and veterans on this Veterans’ Day. Thank you you for your sacrifice so that we can have our freedoms.

Kayla had senior night for diving and Timmy had senior night for soccer. It was the last home match of the season. I helped plan it along with the other senior parents. We made signs celebrating the accomplishments of each senior. The seniors were each honored before the match with their parents, and received flowers. The teams both won their matches, which made it even better. We took Kayla and Timmy out for dinner afterward.

We had a good time on Halloween. The kids went out trick or treating with a group of neighborhood kids. Timmy did a Lion King outfit, Kayla was a cat, and Aaron was Batman. I thought they were really creative with it. I wasn’t sure if they were going to go trick or treating, but it ended up being a neighborhood thing.

The twins did their senior portraits and submitted them to the yearbook. They also submitted their candid pictures and baby pictures. We have their senior portraits framed on the bookshelf. Aaron had his yearbook photo taken at school. We bought a package from the school pictures.

The twins have been working on their college applications. They are trying to get them all done before December so they don’t have too much to do over the holidays. I think they will add a couple more applications after they finish these, since they are not completely sure where they want to go to school yet. Yesterday we went to Target and looked at some storage cubbies, bedspreads, shower baskets, etc. We will finalize this once we know the specifications of their residence halls. I think they are getting excited about starting college.

I went to vote on Election Day. We just had local races. This was the last November election day before Timmy and Kayla are old enough to vote. The presidential primary will be before they turn eighteen. I think they may be able to vote since they will be eighteen on election day. Not sure about that.

In other news, there some people I have been friends with who are also distant relatives. I have known these people for about six years. We are related through a family marriage. The friendship has been kind of rocky for a while now. I know these people have been going through some difficult times lately and have tried to be understanding. I found out recently at a family gathering that some things these people have been telling me are not the truth. Basically these people and one of their children were telling me that the child accomplished something decades ago, when the child was in high school. The problem was that the closer family members had never heard anything about it, not at the time it supposedly happened or when the people were telling me about it. This was a positive thing and if it had happened to me, I’m sure my mom would have told everyone she knew by the end of the day. Anyway, I have made the decision that these relationships are becoming toxic. It is hard to break off the relationship since they are family. I have decided to be courteous and respectful toward them, but not have any deeper relationship. This is hard for me since I don’t always like to end relationships. I feel like I have to for my own mental health.