I Miss Tennis

1. Any regular reader of my blog (all 5 of you) will be familiar with the summer sparseness of my writing. The kids are always underfoot and I never have a moment to think for myself. And then school starts up again and I have to readjust to that every day 6 am alarm, and the rush of keeping everyone on schedule and fed and clothed and making coffee for my husband (a fact which he rejoices over). So, here we are, September 20th, with a moment or two to take stock of the last weeks.

As many of you know, I follow the writing of Anne Kennedy, starting with her previous blog, An Undercurrent of Hostility, and her new one, Preventing Grace. I was catching up on her last half dozen posts this morning when I read one that perfectly describes my attitude. Read it here: Wordy Wednesday. You should also read everything else she writes.

2. The professional tennis season is winding down. The US Open is the last major tournament and while there is more tennis to watch if you have the Tennis Channel, since I do not, I have to make do with checking the scores and news on the internet. In a few weeks, the women will have their end of the year tournament in Singapore with only the top eight players qualifying. The men have theirs in November in London.

In the last week, I realized, in the absence of any tennis to watch, how much of an anxiety soother watching tennis is for me. Something about the patter of the commentators and the regular rhythms of the game calms me. In previous years, I've watched the post season of baseball quite happily but it doesn't seem to interest me this year. Maybe soccer would work.

3. Anxiety is definitely the flavor of the house. Most of the time, Miranda moves along blithely without acknowledging it, but the rest of us are regularly crippled by it. My number one prayer at the moment is that God would ease Alex's anxiety which would ease the rest of the house.

We spent the last year chasing doctors and medical answers to anxiety. This year, I'm trying a different tack, while maintaining the medical solutions. Alex has started swim lessons on Thursday nights and we may end up with a family Y membership so that every other night, someone can just take him swimming. Being in the water cheers him, both the sensation and the pressure. It used to be that I jealously protected my evenings as my own time but the pain of watching him fall apart and be unable to calm himself has made me desperate enough to willingly dismantle my own life to make his more comfortable.

4. One of the best things about September is all of my peer groups start up again. Wednesday morning Bible study started with week as well as the Friday group for moms of school age kids called Raising Hope. And Youth Group kicks off tomorrow night, which I am very excited about. I have transitioned from being a small group leader for the HS girls to a prayer support person, which fits much better into what I'm good at. For your reference, the church calendar is here.

5. This week I finally started watching season 6 of Castle (season 7 will premiere soon). I am fond of the show but saw the bad writing coming from a mile off and tried to avoid it, for more than a year. But the completist in me has to watch a show in order, so I suffered through the cliff hanging transitions from season 5 to 6 and now that nearly all the changes have been erased, I'm hoping it will go back to being a show I'm fond of. There was a great Doctor Who-esque episode that is my favorite so far, "Time Will Tell," that was almost as good as "The Final Frontier" from season 5.

Speaking of Doctor Who, we are enjoying the new doctor although last week's episode was a head scratcher. I'm wondering if Clara just fit better with Matt Smith so it will be good that the Christmas episode will be her last.

6. My mother and I are taking the kids to the Mt. Laurel Fall Fest at Laurel Acres park this afternoon, an event none of us have ever attended. If nothing else, face painting and the playground structures will make the trip worthwhile.

7. My mother has had some adventures in publishing. Long time readers will remember that she published her book, Bathsheba's Lament, several years ago. Well, then the publishing company went out of business and she nearly lost her copyright. Ugh.

Now there is a new edition with a new title (Bathsheba's Journey) and cover and it just became available for purchase, both in paperback and Kindle formats. Find it here.

And here's Jen.