At Least it's Spring

Spring has finally arrived (although my ears are still cold after watching my son play soccer tonight in the wind.) Along with spring there are the year-end recitals for dance and band, soccer season, and all the end of school activities. We always have to be somewhere and trying to balance the time between all the events takes careful planning and coordination.

On Saturday, my oldest daughter attended a highland dance competition. While I was in Utah at the writer's conference, she called and said she fell down some stairs and sprained her ankle -- two weeks before competition. After a week on crutches and a week of babying it she chose to dance anyway. As she danced, I held my breath every time she came down on her foot and was just glad she didn't injure it again. She placed in each of her four dances and won the aggregate trophy for her age category. She didn't respond when they first called her name because she didn't believe it or expect it. I guess that just goes to show that with a little determination and lots of training and hard work, anything is possible.

While the girls and I were at the competition, my husband and son attended a stake sponsored ham radio course. They both took their test and passed, so now I have two licensed amateur radio operators in the house. This is part of the effort our family is making to become more self-sufficient and prepared for emergencies. We are also hoping my son will find it fascinating and pick up a new hobby to replace some of his video game time.

Somewhere amid all the things my kids are doing, I need to finish editing my manuscript and send it off. I'm hoping to get that done this week, and then the waiting game begins again. At least it's spring. There is always somewhere to be and something to do, and on top of that, there is always another story building up in my head.