We broke quarantine and staying home in June. We went to Colorado and stayed in the homes of our family. We had an amazing 90th birthday family picnic at a park for my gorgeous Grammy.
In July I went to a Young Life small department essential meeting. I flew Southwest. It was thrilling. I was grateful for the chance to work together, have hard conversations, and be in
the beauty of Colorado Springs. I was back in Colorado 10 days later when tax season finally ended and we did our first ever Osborne-Original-6 plus-families (we were 18 people, 4 kids 2 and under!) vacation in Keystone. Cousins, wildflowers, hikes, bike/skate/scooter adventures, and sweet family time were a few highlights.
Back at home in June and July, we got the great gift of a virtual swim season with the Coves. We practiced and swam with safety protocols in our home pool and competed against other teams with times computed and compared online.
On the way home from swim practice, Oaks has to go up one big hill. Really big. Being new-ish to biking and short-ish as a human, the hill is taxing.
To get up the hill, I tell Oaks, “Just do one pedal. Then another pedal. Then another pedal. You can always do one more pedal. Don’t worry about the top of the hill, just the next pedal.”
He’s seven and has strong emotions so sometimes he’d give up saying, “I’m not getting anywhere! That doesn’t work.”
By the end of the month, however, he would face the hill with a new resolve. The one pedal at a time method moved him slowly but deliberately up to the top.
As COVID continues, so do the questions, the uncertainty, the pain, the charged emotions, the division, the community, and the blessings.
They just announced a delayed start to the school year and a hybrid schedule for middle schoolers. With the start of school now still a month away (Sept 8th), these new plans might change again.
To think about when it’s all over or when things can be “normal” again is to yearn for the top of the hill from the bottom. Instead, I’ll just do one pedal. Be patient. Stay balanced and hold on.
Other notable summer moments:
- Oodles of work on our kitchen (see another blog post)
- Colorado family here in KC for Drew’s birthday and the 4th of July
- Black Lives Matter and Do Better Young Life
- Andi’s first Diane’s School of Dance Recital happened July 10-11th. Cousins Lena, June and Henley were great fans, as well as her brothers, GG and Laura. It was a great uplift and Andi was confident and awesome on stage.
- Eli’s 14th birthday!
- Lots of Wyldlife fun in June with a field day and a yard games hang out night.
- New friends with similar interests- Sam Oetting and scooters, Schieber’s and Andi’s new penny board, June, Henley and, Oaks play, fight and love almost daily.
- Our garden, flowers, and grass are growing with gusto!
- Did I mention the home projects?!
Grammy and her offspring…the legacy of grace and beauty we inherit is a gift.
Maama with 7 of her 9 grandkids at Evergreen Lake.
One of Eli’s presents and a dream come true- a scooter session at Woodward Copper.
Oakley’s first ride on a chair lift. We had a great hike down all together.
Andi danced two jazz dances and one hip hop dance. We loved watching you on that big stage Sister Soo.
All the Osborne’s during our mountain top experience family vacay
Also in July- our 16th wedding anniversary. We returned to the engagement spot at Chicago Creek on our way home from Keystone.
