Family

There isn't much time to see family recently. If there were an abundance of time and we had no obligations this weekend, I'd like nothing better than to drive around and visit each of you. But since we probably can't,

M-
I hope the first week of classes has gone well. I wish we could stop in and surprise you walking from class to Garlock at some point. It sounds like there are some good friends there for the making. College is so much better than high school, isn't it? Still, I remember the first week or two at Roberts being a little lonely. Everyone else is looking forward to seeing friends they made last year, and as a freshman you're trying to figure out who to eat and sit with. Whoever you're eating and sitting with is lucky to be with you.

Lux-
Are you reading anything interesting? Any chance of you blogging again soon? I miss having you around, since it's a laugh a minute, usually. I think you should hang out with James again sometime. Aside from S, you're the uncle he's seen the least of over the summer. Do you have a secret girlfriend that no one knows about? Or are you working your way into the heart of some young Roberts girl? Or have you sworn yourself to the bachelor life this semester, a term of late library nights reading dusty books in comfortable chairs?

Calvus-
It was so good to see you this morning; we shouldn't wait that long to do Hebrew again. You have an amazing gift for the vocabulary, and I think I learn the words faster from hearing you remember them than trying to memorize flashcards on my own. It's great to see you with Silas, too, of course. James still pretends that Silas is his only cousin, even though he was a little standoffish when he saw him the other day. J and I both miss Beka...is she doing well with the start of the semester?

Pax-
One more week until Sunday afternoon Bills games start! Has it been okay to leave Abby and K this week while you've been going in for school stuff? Isn't it terrible for the first week or two when you've been used to spending all day with them over the summer? I have to say again how relieved and happy for you I am that you have a job for the fall. It's no easy thing to make a living as a music teacher nowadays...I hope you feel like you're good at this job (you are) and that they give you a little more respect than they did at that other place.

S-
We were so close to you the other night! I've been thinking about you a lot, actually. We had your daughter over and she talked about you constantly. When will you see her again? I know she misses you terribly. I don't even know where you're living nowadays, but I'm glad you've found stability with the new job. I'd stop in and order a coffee, but I don't want to distract you if you have other responsibilities you need to be taking care of...are you doing okay?

Mom-
You must be going nuts with all this RWC stuff. J is only very distantly involved with it, and I hear about the preparations every time she comes home from work. Is it thankless, or are you reaching benchmarks and hearing thank yous? Do you like your new boss? What's it like to have an empty house? I hope you and Dad are just exquisitely happy together? Can we take the kids for a weekend so that you can have a truly quiet Saturday morning? (I don't know what weekend it would be, of course.) I feel like we should have made a bigger deal out of this...what an accomplishment to send the last of six off to college!

Dad-
So really, how was Nashville? Was it fun? Did it satisfy any long-delayed desires to be in a pro studio and work with that sort of expertise? Did you enjoy the music at all, or was it just another job? It had to have been fun, I think. When will you get a recording? I would love to hear what you sound like through a professionally engineered mix. This mortgage stuff has been crazy. I can't even begin to imagine how you juggled two mortgages and owned a business and were a father to six kids all at the same time. I'm barely keeping my head above water looking after James and trying to answer all the phone calls that come in. Did you feel like you were underwater? You always had such a calm exterior...