When last we met, I was keeping Lyla and Wren and the puppies while their parents took a vacay to Seattle and Las Vegas. So, I will pick up where I left off which is the morning of Day 2.

Lyla awakens stuffier than the night before and we take more meds, they eat breakfast of fruit and Pop Tarts (it’s Gams’ house and this is what they expect. Who am I to disappoint. I get it. I love Pop Tarts.)

They make their lunches. For Lyla, it is a prepared salad bowl and fruit. I know, it’s like she’s 23.

For her lunch, Wren begins to instruct me, “Gams, I need a saucepan to boil water.”

Me, “We can do that in the microwave.”

Her, “No, it has to be on the stove.” She tells me this while looking as if I have told her that she can’t mix patterns if they each have at least one color in common.

I put a pot of water on the stove. She proceeds to make mac and cheese in those little microwave cups. No, she doesn’t need help even those it ends up looking as dry and arid as the Sahara. We pour the boiling water into the thermos, let it stand for a minute, pour it out and spoon the mac and cheese in. Brilliant.

Her lunch is the mac and cheese, a packet of Nutella, cut-up strawberries and a Kinder Joy, plus a bag of chips. She tells me later that it was the best lunch ever and everyone was jealous. Of course they were.

We have discussed at length exactly what time we will leave and I have set an alarm with Alexa. It goes off, and we gather lunch bags, water bottles, backpacks and a French horn and head for the car. Lyla is dragging, and I tell her I can pick her up if she feels worse.

I perform beautifully at the drop off, get smiles from Mr. Cho, good byes from the girls and head back home. The puppies and I have some personal time.

At 2:00 Lyla is on the sofa, surrounded by tissues, puppies, the TV remote and a snuggly blanket. She will be there through Thursday.

I pick Wren up, she goes to dance. We make our assigned dinner, do homework, snuggle puppies and go to bed.

Wednesday is much the same. Lyla stays home, Wren goes to school. She stays for choir. I pick her up. Dinner, homework (Wren only. Lyla says her teachers don’t believe in homework. Again it’s 2023. The top of my head has blown off.) Bed.

Thursday is identical, except Wren and I get our wires crossed and she can’t find me after school. I told her I was there and would head her way in the car. I end up going the wrong way down the street, Wren sees me, a teacher escorts her across the street–through traffic–to get to me. She gets in the car and never says a word about the fact that I have done it all kinds of wrong! Shared responsibility, I suppose. Or she just took pity on me. Or she was relieved that I hadn’t forgotten her.

The right mix of meds had finally gotten Lyla’s dizzy, stuffy, sneezy head under control and she felt better, planning on going to school Friday. That was good news cause things were shifting again Friday afternoon.

Molly and Beau were to land at 3 Friday afternoon, pick the girls up at a friend’s house (where they would walk after school) and then fetch the puppies and paraphernalia from my house. The reason for this was that I was leaving my house at 1:30 to pick up the Tapestry girls to go to Mineola for a girls’ weekend.

Yes, Mineola! They loved hearing about my trip with Adam and we decided to all go together. I even booked the same VRBO house!

So Friday had to go off without a hitch. Well, that never happens.

First I was worried about Lyla if she didn’t go to school, but she rallied. Also Beau and Molly were a little delayed, but were able to make all the pickups as planned. We had to get a last minute driver for Mineola because our friend Karen’s dad went to the hospital unexpectedly. But Nancy stepped up and off we went.

Mineola was a lovely. relaxed weekend. We enjoyed our comfy house, although I chose the room with bunkbeds which were surprisingly on the floor. The actual floor. So I was able to practice a sort of stop, drop and roll technique to get to my feet multiple times over the weekend. That was a bonus.

We enjoyed Val’s restaurant in town and several shops, then went to the Art Festival in Edom on Sunday and saw my sweet friends, Dan and Lori Dudley, who were selling their amazing sculptures.

The highlight of the weekend was viewing the partial eclipse on Saturday morning. Melinda had gotten glasses for us and we took full advantage of the beautiful crescent-shaped halo.

It was especially nice to take a breath after such a busy two weeks.

My life is a raucous, joyous, patchwork quilt of friends, family, work, and play. And also travel.

I will take this moment to tell you that I am leaving next week for two weeks in France. This is a bucket-list trip for me as I have always wanted to take a Viking river cruise. I have convinced Adam, Corey and my sister, Leigh Ann to come along, bribing them with profiteroles. Actually, it didn’t take much arm-twisting. They are all in for the adventure.

When I return, Erin, Kate and Oliver are coming back for Thanksgiving, so my crazy life will ratchet back up again.

I wouldn’t have it any other way. As Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

I couldn’t agree more. Au revoir.