My last Monday driving to a school...

Today was kind of a sad day for me.  The "lasts" have started.  Last time we'll do this or last time we'll do that.  Today was the last Monday that I drove Jule to school and picked her up again.  Tomorrow will be the last Tuesday.

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people.  Let your memory be your travel bag.  --Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

I hope that I have provided a great experience for Jule.  I have tried to show her the good side of America without hiding the bad things.  She has had many experiences to fill her "travel bag."  I hope I have provided more good than bad.  I believe in my heart that I have given all that I can to be a friend, a mentor, a temporary "mom" and a schoolwork tutor.  I have burned lots of food, broken many plates, run over curbs while driving and laughed a little too hard when she can't open a can or a bag of whatever.  We've stood in front of the White House and underneath sharks.  I've waited in the vehicle while she's running late for school, rolled my eyes when she gets frustrated doing homework, and yelled "I am a genius" when I get an easy homework question right.  We've squeezed through iron and concrete mazes, crawled through haunted houses and took some hard spills on snow.

Jule was here through some bad things as well.  Recently there was a school shooting in Connecticut where 20 children were killed.  There was a suicide at her school, as well as fights.  She watched our political wheels turn through the election.  My friend lost daughter Jule's age to a rare lung disease.  We had a hurricane that devastated the east coast and she saw pictures of Joplin, Missouri that was wiped from the earth by a tornado.  Like I said... I did not want to hide the ugly parts of life in America or life in general.

Despite seeing the bad, we've spent a lot of our time laughing.  Most of the time the things aren't funny at all, but for some reason... we find them so.  She'll remember MORE COWBELL, finding "corn" in her Sonic lemon-berry slush (which was actually a lemon seed), being startled at a fake rat packed in her lunch box.  Fizzgig's antics.  Trying on every scary mask in the Halloween store.  Games of Quelf.  Crack sticking out all the time.  My snoring and smacking in my sleep.  Jackpot Glitzy and everything Honey Boo Boo.  Redneck teeth and our inability to wear them in the car.  Losing my keys in the City Museum and again in the mall.  There are a thousand other things that I could mention.  Many of the funny times are captured in this blog.  I am so glad that I kept it, because the time has gone by so quickly that I cannot remember what we did from day to day.

I did want to give a great experience to Jule, but I also wanted some things selfishly from this experience.  I know that at this age I will never be a mother, so I wanted to see what it was like to be responsible for someone else.  I have a new-found respect for mothers.  I also wanted to grow as a person.  I wanted to learn more about my limits and abilities.  I am aware of those more distinctly now.  I'm pretty good at helping with homework.  I'm really good at keeping a teenager busy and doing dishes.  I'm terrible at cooking.  I'm better at being a friend than being motherly.  These things are my truths, and the things of which I am certain!

In a few minutes only 16 days left...