Leaves, leaves

I'm not sure why, but there seem to be more leaves on the ground than I ever remember seeing before, in previous Novembers. In our yard, definitely, but also in other people's yards, as though the trees had more leaves this year to drop. That can't be right. Still, there are a lot of leaves.

There have been some articles floating around -- or maybe it's the same article, reprinted over and over -- about how you shouldn't rake, you should just leave the leaves alone so that insects will have a winter home. I think this is OK up to a point, but we really have a LOT of leaves. I have to do some raking.

Last week was a busier week than I expected it to be, and this coming week will be busy too: I have my parent support group on Tuesday, I see the dietician on Thursday, and Teen B has a concert that night -- plus, if all goes well, Rocket Boy will arrive sometime that afternoon. And on Friday afternoon, Thanksgiving Break will begin. So I have to spend the next few days getting ready. Fortunately, I've been keeping up pretty well with housecleaning, so things aren't that dirty -- except, of course, that my vacuum cleaner is broken. Maybe this will be the week I pull out Rocket Boy's ancient vacuum, which I hate, and use that. The floors, and especially the rugs, are getting rather grimy. I can (and do) sweep the floors, but the rugs...

But speaking of last week, it was rather full. Monday was my usual housecleaning, meal-planning, shopping, etc., day. 

Tuesday was Election Day and I was quite pleased with the results, both here and in other states. I had voted for Bob Yates for Boulder's mayor, but I wasn't happy with my choice. I wanted someone other than the mealy-mouthed current guy, Aaron Brockett, but the only other choices were Nicole Speer, a progressive of the beyond-reasonable type, Paul Tweedlie, a Republican with zero experience, and Bob Yates, who pretends to be an independent, but is too conservative for my taste. I voted for Yates, and he got the most 1st-place votes, but it was a ranked-choice election, and in the end Brockett won. And since what I really wanted was someone in between Brockett and Yates, having Yates win the 1st-place votes but Brockett win the election worked for me. If that makes any sense. It's like Brockett won, but he doesn't have a mandate. I think.

I was happy with all the other results too. Two of the people I voted for for City Council won, one definitely lost (but got more votes than I thought he would), and one probably lost (results aren't final yet). But I'm fine with the two who probably won who I didn't vote for. They seem like good people. The anti-vaxxer I accidentally voted for for School Board lost, so that's good, and I felt guilty for voting down Proposition HH, which was going to lower property taxes and cut down TABOR refunds and do other things that no one was quite sure about, but it lost HUGELY, so I don't have to take responsibility for it losing. Oh, and "Safe Zones for Kids" passed, even though there were many many letters to the editor about why it was a bad idea. I don't think very many parents of kids who had to walk past the exploding encampments (due to propane heaters) last spring voted against it.

Tuesday evening I was planning to take the kids to the Technical Education Center open house, but things didn't work out. Teen A said he didn't want to go, he already knew what he wanted to sign up for, and he was furious that I made him go. Teen B was still at school for a club meeting and said he would take the Jump bus, that goes down Arapahoe Road, and meet us at TEC (at 65th & Arapahoe). Only problem was, he missed his stop and got off somewhere beyond it, at Willow Creek Drive. So I drove down Arapahoe looking for him, but it got more and more rural, and there were a million people driving along single file, off to their homes in Erie because they can't afford to live in Boulder, and I had no idea where Willow Creek Drive was, I'd never heard of it, and it was dark, and finally I did a U-turn and went all the way back to TEC and called Teen B and said I couldn't find him. My phone was low on power and his was almost out. He said he would cross the street and wait for the next Jump to take him back to TEC. But when the next Jump came, it went right past him. So then he started to walk. He walked to 75th & Arapahoe, which has a little business area, with a gas station and bright lights, and I drove there and found him. And by the time we got back to TEC, the open house was almost over and I was a total basket case. And Teen A wasn't speaking to me. So we didn't go.

I thought, both during and after that fiasco, how every phase of parenting has its nightmare experiences: when they're babies, they have diaper blow-outs, and when they're toddlers they have tantrums in public spaces, etc. In high school, all kinds of things can happen, including having the bright idea to take a bus somewhere when you don't really know where to go and getting lost and wandering in the dark with your phone on 6% power. 

It would have been scarier (for me) if he were a girl. But it was scary enough.

And yet -- how cool that he was able to do all that and not freak out. I freaked out, but he was basically fine, just wet from stepping in a small pond and covered with burs from walking through fields. But cheerful. He's growing up. They both are.

On Wednesday, I finally had my second call with my old grad school friend who has early Alzheimer's. I first called her back in August, and that was scary, but I survived it and was very glad I'd done it. I said I'd call back in a month, but September whizzed by and suddenly it was October. And her husband and I spent October scheduling and then rescheduling calls, when things kept coming up for both of us. Finally on Wednesday the timing worked out and we had another hour-long call. And again, although I was scared, it turned out to be wonderful. I wonder whether I can not be scared the next time I call her. I'm actually looking forward to it. I figure I'll call a week or two before Christmas.

It's so unlike me to be making these calls. I am just not the sort of person who does nice things for other people, who shows up, who sticks around when things get rough. I have a long history of running the other way when someone I know is in trouble. I always have some sort of excuse. But I read an article in the New York Times a month ago, a little personal essay (if the link is behind their paywall, I can send you the article), by someone who had a friend who died of cancer, and in the end she "didn't go to Ohio" (where her friend lived) because this and that, all these reasons why it would be hard. The point of her essay was that you should "always go to Ohio" when someone you love is dying or in trouble or whatever. Don't make all the excuses, just go. And even though in the essay she's talking about actually physically "going," I think it also applies to any sort of "showing up" you can do. So on Wednesday, when I was sitting down to make the call, I thought to myself, "go to Ohio," and I did (even though it's Michigan, and only on the phone).

It's a good thing and it feels good. I will try to remember how it's a good thing, the next time the opportunity arises for me to show up for someone.

***

Thursday night, Teen B and I went to the musical put on by the other high school. They did "Freaky Friday" and our next-door neighbor was in it and did a great job, as he always does. I really enjoyed the show.

Friday, the kids were off school because of Veterans Day being Saturday, so I'd scheduled our flu shots for that morning, at the King Soopers pharmacy. Even though they're awkward and smelly and pimply and they fight all the time, I get such a kick out of going places with my two teenagers. They teased me nonstop while we stood in line. I get into it, I can't deny it. They call me "Boomer" and make fun of my age and my size and my likes & dislikes, and it's all a pleasure. I made these guys, I think to myself, as the nonsense continues. They don't have my genes, but I brought them into the world and fed them and changed their diapers and got them to this point, and they're so much fun.

When they're not getting lost on dark country roads and/or not speaking to me, that is.

OK, so I must get ready for the week ahead -- and the week after that. I'm greatly looking forward to having Rocket Boy here, but at the same time I'm a little sad because it will mean more than a week when I can't write. That is, I can write, but I like to talk while I'm writing and I can't talk if RB is in the desk room with me -- not to mention that the twins will be there too, on vacation, everyone shouting at everyone else. I didn't write all summer, with the twins home.

I have finished my middle grade novel, but I'm still tinkering with it, trying to smooth out the rough edges. I have to read it aloud to be able to do that. It's while reading aloud that I notice problems, notice, for example, that I said it was freezing cold one day and warm & sunny the next (both of those are entirely possible in Colorado in October, but I think I need to point that out). 

So as to keep from getting bogged down with endless rewrites, I went ahead and started the second book in the series, which takes place in November. I've only written about 1000 words so far, but I have lots of ideas and I would like to be able to work on it all through November. Instead, I probably just have three days this week, no days the week after, and then the last four days of November. So, seven days in all. It isn't much.

If Rocket Boy manages to move back here, I'll have to figure this out! Especially if he retires, as I've encouraged him to do. I know he doesn't want to retire, but he needs to come home.