Life As I Know It

We have been doing a lot of stuff, if you hadn't noticed. Things are busy in good ways and in not-good ways too. But that's how it goes, yeah?
We spent yesterday evening downtown at an event Lakeland calls First Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, the stores in our historic downtown area stay open late, the streets are blocked off, and people flock to the area to shop and eat and just hang out.
Normally, I don't go to these things. I really don't like crowds.

I mean it.

But Andrew's school jazz band was playing and his TSA team was demonstrating their stuff AND his Lego Mindstorms team was represented too. So, he was pulling triple duty. But he had such fun. I was really pleased to see the concert - they did so well and he was so proud. He showed me the robot he's working on for the Mindstorms competition thingy (I don't really know what it's all about - I just volunteer and show up with the teachers need me).
And I ran into all kinds of people!
Of course, on a Friday night, after a long week, I was not looking so great. On our way downtown from the music studio, we stopped at home so I could throw on a clean dress and I put my hair in a kerchief. It worked out. I didn't feel cute at first, but lots of people told me I was, so that helped.
I saw an old boyfriend, friends of my brother's, people I went to church with as a kid, people my parents knew when I was a kid, people I hung out with when my kids and their kids were little, and, well, just people from every era and facet of my life in this town. I even saw Jessica and her hubby. That was pretty cool. Lakeland's not a small-small town, but it's small enough that when people come outside and gather in one spot, you are sure to see old friends.
I like that a lot.

I only finished about half of my errands today. I had big plans - Emma's birthday is next week and I've not done a thing yet. I need to pick up paperwork for things and I need to get hair color and I need to do so many other things. But I managed to grocery shop for the first time in weeks (hooray for not stopping at the store on the way home to pick up whatever's for dinner-that-will-surely-cost-us-more-than-it-would-had-I-planned-ahead!).
Yup. There were lots of things I needed to do that I didn't do. But you know what I did that was really cool?
I held my tiny baby nephew for a long time. A really long time. He slept on my chest and I laid on the sofa and just watched him breathe. I watched him roll his eyes in dreamy sleep and I watched his eyebrows hitch up and down at whatever he dreamt. I smelled his sweet baby head and I rubbed his back. Oh - and I kissed him. I kissed him over and over.
There isn't better therapy to be found anywhere on the planet than a sleeeping, happy baby.

Wake-Up Playlist: America, Ventura Highway
Daily Bliss: I'm about to make some caramel sauce to put with some apple slices. I mean, lots of good things have happened today, but I think that's going to be near the top of the list.