(Flag day)
My vision of the day was of painting the porch and working on securing my blueberries from my ravenous Oberhasli’s. Then Lisa called and said she needed help driving a bunch of bikini clad girls and my son to the water park, I figured I should oblige after all ,she does so much for me.
As luck would have it, after twenty-four days of unrelenting, front page sunshine it was in fact, a dreary, cloudy day in Bellingham. I arrived at the Donaldsons in timely fashion, cleaned out my car of hay debris so as not to embarrass Quinn, although truly anything could embarrass Quinn at any moment. This was just one less item to worry about.
We met the teens and their parents at The Food Pavillion parking lot. I got out of the van to get some much needed cat food for my cranky cats while the gaggle of girls decided who would ride in which car. I knew I'd get Lauren, because Quinn would be terminally embarrassed for anyone else to ride with them other than a trusted ally like Lauren - who has her own embarrassing little sister, Jordan. I was shocked when Quinn came over in the middle of the frey and slipped her arms around me and said "Thanks for doing this for me, I really appreciate it. I know you had other things going on." Now I'm sure Lisa must have made her do it, but heck - she did it.
Despite the thick layer of clouds, the sun emerged and the day turned out to be spectacular just as Chris had recklessly guaranteed all the kids.
(Chris - covers himself with sunscreen before attending to the children - he subscribes to the airline mask philosophy)
(Quinn and Lauren)
(Quinn, Lauren, Henry - laugh and laugh)
(Phoebe - our Little Miss Sunshine)
(Chris lounging with his birthday girl ribbon)
(Lauren, Henry and Phoebe)
It was a bittersweet afternoon though as this will be one of the last events Lauren will attend on a regular basis anyway. She is moving with her family to Eugene because of her father’s work, a continuous reminder that these are hard times. Hopefully, difficult choices will turn into wonderful opportunities as the clouds lift and the sun begins to shine for all of us.
