March 2023

Annika’s Goings-On
Badminton season got underway this month, and we all went to the matches to support her; Annika and her doubles partner, CJ, lost their first couple of matches, but won one, too (yaaaaay!!!), and even earned the #2 spot on varsity, via a 2v2 challenge of the people holding that spot. She’s excited to be on varsity as a freshman, for sure. In school news, though it feels like too early for this, 10th grade course selection is open; she’s pretty much taking all of the hardest classes next year (Honors Chem, AP Ethnic Lit, Honors Pre-Calc, Spanish II, Advanced Sculpture, and AP European History, a class supposedly so intense that multiple people tried to talk us/her out of it). That’s the kind of schedule you have to get your parents to sign off on, lol. She’s not all business, though — she spent an evening at the twins’ karaoke birthday party; she and I went to see the school’s production of Newsies!; and she finished her Invisalign series — which, except for a retainer she will wear at night, means the end of the Journey of Orthodonture for her! Sometimes it felt like this day would never come … 

Lukas Life
The little guy is getting a double-dose of puberty/sex ed this month — the school’s unit for fifth graders is happening, and on Sundays is the online thing he’s doing with R. I think he’s got the whole subject pretty thoroughly covered, lol. In more fun news, he (and Manir, Amira, Sam, James, and Ben) started their last after-school skateboarding session with Coach Diego. The younger kids can do it next year, but it’s the end of the road for Lukas, Manir, and James, and we’re honestly pretty sad about that — it’s been such a great experience, and so much fun watching them learn skills and try new things on their boards. I hope they’ll still skate, even without the weekly coaching. And finally, he and I joined a large group of friends for the boys’ last Mother/Son Dance! It was 80s-themed, and we had a blast putting together outfits (all us moms looked ridiculous, it was great!). The dance was SO much fun — amazing how all the old moves come back, heh. Another thing I’m sorry to see the end of — but what a way to go out!

The Windy Day
Weather is rarely a thing I report on at length here, but we had so much wild stuff this month — after weeks and weeks of rain, we had a super-windy day (even windier than the one that blew our neighbors’ tree down), which resulted in power loss, a BUNCH of trees blown down (including these huge eucalyptuses in the median near the Grants’ house, and a giant pine at Los Alamitos), the cancellation of badminton practice, the loss of internet (on a day R. was told to work from home bc of the storms — but it was out at work too, so no big deal), and the destruction of every fence in town, including ours — the section between us and the Schwartzes got obliterated, and every one of our friends lost at least a piece of theirs. Without the internet, we just kinda hung out at home, playing chess (Lukas’s current obsession) and backgammon till we had power again. And soon after all this, we had a visit from my friend Amanda (Florian) Callinan and her family (husband Drew and daughter Audrey, who’s just a few months younger than Annika). It was a hilarious afternoon and evening, telling stories Decatur-style — always a good time seeing them! And as we told them, they might be the last guests in the house as it is now: We have been given a start date of May 1 for demolition! Holy crap …