5 Friday Favorites: August 26, 2022

 It's time for my Friday link up with  A Little Bit of Everything and Momfessionals. 

On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.

Happy Friday! It's the first week of school here. Joe started back not only to work at Wingate University in North Carolina, but also back to graduate classes he started this summer. Kyle started classes for his senior year at Tennessee, Drew started classes for his senior year in High School. And me? I started cleaning out a bunch of closets. The new school year always feels more like January 1st to me than January 1st. It always makes me itch to organize all the things, buy new colored pens and planners, start all the diets, and plan all the meals. And this year with all the change on the horizon, I feel like I'm even more obsessed with doing all the exhausting things we do to make us feel like we're in control of time and space. Your counseling recommendations are welcome.

Here are my favorites from the week. I will leave my label maker off the list although it makes me feel quite powerful.

1. Spring Loaded Drawer Dividers

I don't like to throw my kids under the bus too much, but Drew Christopher Skinner is an enormous slob. This isn't my first rodeo with boys, but this kid has brought it to a new level. Due to my new school year optimism and goal setting, I have decided that I have 12 months to get him ready so that his roommate in college won't wonder if he was raised in a barn. DO BARNS HAVE THESE DRAWER ORGANIZERS? No ma'am, they do not. I love these things. I have them in all of my drawers and I'm certain they make me a better person. ;-) Those five tshirts and five pairs of shorts he wears are going to be so organized. We're on way. (Also, yes, I am delusional. Let's just let it play out.)

2. In the Meantime - Jess Ray

I actually should list my sister as my favorite - every day of every week. Especially when she knows exactly what song to send me with the exact words of truth that I need to hear in the exact right moment that I need to hear them. Even if it did have me grab a handful of tissues and take a nap. It made for a very good, very restful nap.

3. It's Almost Time for College Football Top

It's almost college football season. Let's be chill about it, okay? My Longhorns lost six in a row last year. We play Alabama in Week 2 which feels particularly hateful. My expectations are basically in the toilet. At least that's where I'm trying to keep them. Still, I know as soon as I see Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit I'm going to start thinking we're going to win the National Championship this year. It happens every time. I need to burn all of my game day tops from last year's season, so I found this new burnt orange one. It's only $23 so if I have to throw it in the garbage after our defense decides to take a nap during 3rd down, then it's no big deal. It comes in lots of colors if you're not a Longhorn.

If that one has to be disposed of, then I like this one, too. It comes in a pretty blue for you Carolina Tarheels and a purple for my TCU Horned Frog friends.

4. Balega Socks

I've mentioned these socks before. They are the best running/workout/walk around the house or gross hotel room socks in all the land. I just remembered how much I love them this week because Drew steals them from me all the time, so I bought some more yesterday and I will be hiding them from him now. Good story. I know. Anyway, I love them an unreasonable amount.

5. Holding All the Feelings

Every year I love looking at the Back to School photos on Facebook. I love seeing the new dorm rooms. The clingy hugs of moms saying good-bye to their 18 year old babies. The little ones going to Kindergarten with shiny shoes and nametags hung around their necks. And still I know through my friendships with parents in the pediatric cancer community that this time of year is brutal for them. And I will never see a photo during Back to School week without thinking of them ever again. 

I followed Drew out the door and down the driveway taking a photo of his back before he left for his senior year in high school. My last child to have a senior year in high school. I didn't cry this time. I didn't look through old photos. I didn't get together with moms for a mimosa at 9:30 am. (All things I have done in the past, by the way.)

I just felt gratitude as he walked away and climbed into his buddy's truck - a friend he's had since he was seven. And that is not to say that later in the day the tears didn't try to creep in. My emotions have been all over the map this summer. I'm certain they will continue that way. Buckle up, reader, it's going to get messy.

All I kept thinking yesterday was what a wonder it is that our hearts have the capacity to hold gratitude and sorrow at the same time. They can hold excitement and trepidation at the same time. We can even hold fear and peace at the same time. And I think we're allowed to do that. It can make for an exhausting day, to be sure. But I'm not sure we're living a full life if we're not giving ourselves the space to let all of it co-exist and recognizing that God is in the midst of every last bit of it. Always. 

I am grateful beyond measure that I have the blessing to lament the fact that my children are growing up and changing and leaving and making decisions that cause me anxiety and pride all at the same time. I know too many moms who do not get the gift of driving away from a college dorm with tears and snot dripping down their faces while their husbands try to manage the radio so that Landslide or Time in a Bottle don't suddenly cause them to lie down in the backseat for the duration of the road trip. It's a gift. It's a burden. It's hard and it's amazing. As my guy Frederick Buechner said (it always comes back to Buechner), "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid."

Have a great weekend, Friends. 

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