My Flicka

Where did August go? She's just flown right on by. Out the window even. I can't believe next week is it. The activities are back in full swing with the start of the new school year. So definitely less time for blogging. Sorry 'bout that. But this is what all we've had going on. Back to school of course which means sports physicals and buying supplies, new backpacks and the like. (Fortunately, my kids are making due without new clothes right now. When it's in the 90s, summer-wear is sufficient until the fall chill creeps in.) Football practice started before August for my oldest son. Is that not the craziest thing ever???? He's in 6th grade. Gimme a break. I remember when school didn't even start until after Labor Day. Times really change. My brother and his family moved to Phoenix (per my sagas in earlier posts) and we had a going-away party for them a few weeks ago.

But the biggest thing that happened for us by far is the opportunity we had to spend time with my step-daughter Flicka (that's her above). No, that's not her given name. If you've read the book or seen the recent movie with Tim McGraw, you know that means "beautiful girl." And she's all that and more. Not that I'm biased or anything. But she's beautiful both inside and out. We had not spent any face time with Flicka since Feb 06. Long story short, ugly custody battle makes for not-fair visitation. So we had a very rare opportunity to go down for a visit (she lives in the state next to us), and miracle upon miracles were allowed to bring her home with us for an overnight stay! Her own grandparents had not seen her in five years! It was a joyous reunion. We were in heaven, but it was also very bittersweet. My son cried and then finally told me the tears were because he realized all the time we've lost. Isn't that the saddest thing? He's very intuitive and mature for his 11 years.

The visit was very short yet we felt so blessed. Flicka's an awesome kid (almost 16, so almost no kid anymore) and we have hope that we'll be together again sooner than later. But for now, I have many wonderful, awesome pictures from our own little shoot at a local park. How cool is that? A pro has nothin' on us!


















Queen B, King B and all the little Bs