Alas, another summer has come and gone. Here in Georgia, the children have been back in school for over a month and everyone is bemoaning the heat and eager for autumn to arrive. Not me. I’m a summer girl and still in mourning for the passage of yet another season. I refuse to believe that Christmas is only 110 days away.
I had a wonderful summer, one filled with family, friends, travel, wonderful meals, and so many good books. It flew by, it really did. I enjoyed myself. I relaxed. I slept. I daydreamed. I contemplated my present and future and I finally made a few decisions I’d been putting off.
For fear of who may be reading this, I haven’t been very open on this blog about my job the last few years. It was a good job in terms of money, flexibility and location. No complaints. But the work drama and pressure was all-encompassing and I believe contributed greatly to my out-of-the-blue crippling anxiety (my assertion, despite what my therapist says about it always being there), which I’ve been living with for the past year and a half. You would not believe the crap that went down and the personalities that I dealt with at work. I imagine, given current headlines, it was like working in the Trump White House. Except, of course, for the threat of nuclear war! Yet, I had health insurance and that’s huge. So I soldiered on.
There have been several signs, since January, that I really needed to move on. Finally, fate pushed my hand. In April I was asked to go to part-time. I understood the request. As the Controller I knew the situation. I was reluctant because I’d lose my benefits, but still, to reduce the time I had to be there was tempting. I negotiated, and they agreed to keep me full time until I left on my road trip. Upon return, I’d work part time (and go on Cobra).
May was NUTS. Honestly, it seems like a different lifetime. It was that busy. All good stuff, end of year/season events, and yet no time to truly absorb it.
June was decadent and restorative. The summer road trip, likely our last “official” one, was glorious. We saw and did many amazing things and once again fell in love with our beautiful country. We were able to spend quality time together as a family with surprisingly little drama (an exception being a fight over which child would officially be “in California” (their 48th state) first). It was a sprint on the side of Interstate 5 and I thank God none of my children pushed each other into the highway in their quest to stake claim. The three best aspects of the trip: reconnecting with family and friends in faraway places; visiting many independent bookstores (blog post coming); and freedom from our everyday life. I won’t bore you with 30 days of stories, but if your interested you can check out my Road Warrior Momma blog, or my pictures on Intagram.
Lunch in Alameda, CA with Aunt Carol
Visiting the Bernier family in TX
Hangin with my bestie from 7th grade on a visit to Concord, CA (with Rich and Kelly, too)
Hanging with Auntie Shell in Seattle
The kids on Cannon Beach in Oregon
Cocktails with Auntie Kelly at the Sir Francis Drake in SF (surrounded by Debutantes – for realz)
Visiting Breezy in San Fran
My handsome Bear
Celebrating Rich’s birthday
One of the benefits of being “on the road” is all the time I had to think. Really think. I finally concluded that I was done with my job. When I got back from our trip, I worked two more weeks and then moved on to the great unknown, with no plan in place and very little concern about what would come next. I resolved to let the universe guide me. Oh yes, I did just type those words😊.
July. What does one do in the summer when they become unemployed? They head to beach! We celebrated little man’s birthday and relaxed in the Florida sun. We lucked out because we were there in the height of the red tide emergency and yet somehow, Captiva Island was spared (at least while we were there).
Audie & Bear on Captiva – our happy place!
Huter
Family
Summertime!
Cammers
Cam’s birthday breakfast, by request.
He’s 11!!!
My girl ♥
My cousin came with her little boy for a visit.
While in Florida, two interesting things happened. I got a call from my mother in-law asking me if I was interested in teaching (she works at Lincoln Memorial University in TN). “Sure!” I didn’t even 
give myself time to think about it. I’m now an Adjunct Accounting Professor at LMU (teaching on-line). All it took was a Master’s Degree and a little nepotism. I also got an email from a vendor for the company I’d been working for, asking me if I knew of anyone who wanted to work part-time. “Sure!” I’m now the Accounting Manager at a public relations firm, as well.
I’m telling you, reading all those Gabby Bernstein books last spring has paid off. The universe has my back!
August. Before I knew it, my kids were back in school (August 2nd!), and I was starting two new adventures. And, wait for it….time has flown by! I promised myself I wouldn’t say that in this post – but my, it really has.
The twins. Hunter is a Senior, and Bear is officially in 10th.
Audie – 8th grade
Cammy – 5th grade
Hunter started his Senior year (snap from Senior picture session to the left) and is in the middle of his XC season. He retakes the SAT in October and then we begin applying to colleges. Uh-oh. Barrett had the most fabulous summer and is probably the happiest I have ever seen him. He started at a new therapy center this week, and will also be starting neurofeedback, in addition to his speech and OT. Who knows, perhaps the universe has his back, too.
Hunter’s cheerleaders
Bear’s back-to-school haircut
Audrey is in 8th grade and school is getting a little harder for her, especially given her busy social schedule that I’m about to implode (too much middle school loitering). She’s taking three high school courses, so she’s being challenged and therefore needs to re-prioritize. Dance starts in a couple weeks, and she’s also started playing Lacrosse (something of which I know nothing – but it was her dad’s sport). Her first game is this weekend. She turned 14 last weekend – and could barely handle celebrating with her family. The pulling away has started and it breaks my heart.
Little man is charming as ever and has taken up the cross-country torch. He’s run in two meets and is in no hurry to quit. Fingers crossed he’s able to do as well as his brother. We’re officially done with karate and he hasn’t looked back.
September. As I mentioned earlier, it’s still really hot in Atlanta, so it feels like it’s still summer – despite all the pumpkins (Kroger had a display of them on August 1st!!!! – picture below). I’m seeing and smelling all the autumn candles and lattes, but wistful for sand, salt and the scent of coconut oil. I’ll get there, but I’d give anything to do this summer over again!
How was your summer?????
Girl,, when you come back, you’re BACK. Impressed, completely!
Also?
Kinda don’t know where to start because WOW, what an awesome, scary, amazing adventure the past months have been for you. First, I’m glad you left the job that was toxic because TOXIC and gross… and I’m glad they gave you the time you needed.
Also Aud. OMG. You DO look alike and I’ll NEVER EVER forget her teaching Tucker to jump on hotel beds. I love this post so much and hope your road trips aren’t over because PLEASE come stay with us in this house in Colorado!!!
Thanks Kristi! I was so excited when I saw this weeks prompt, because this post was in my mind. And it was fun to be writing again!!!!
I just finished reading July so I thought I scroll down here and say, “YAY!” congratulations that is so wonderful. I think I was holding my breath waiting for your breakthrough. Now scrolling back up to read the rest.
August – nooooo to the pulling away 🙁
September – Right there with you and the heat here in NC. I’m don’t ready for Christmas to be only 110 days away but I am ready for a break in the weather (an open the windows and turn off the ac break).
Nice road trip. Happy to see you link up with us!
Thanks Kenya. It feels really good to be back! And yes, the pulling away sucks. She was sweet this morning, and I was all excited – until she asked me for money.
Aw, so happy all worked out on the job front for you. And is amazing how things like this usually do have a way of working out. As for your summer, I truly enjoyed the recap. By the way, like you, I am not ready to give up on summer just yet and refuse to believe Christmas is coming soon, too. It has been downright hot here still, as well. While everyone has been complaining about the heat, I have been hoping it sticks around for as long as it wants. Maybe I am crazy, but again like you, this summer girl at heart doesn’t want to let summer die just yet here. Here is to a wonderful school year ahead for your kiddos now, too 🙂
I’ve been hearing on the news about the NE heat wave! Hope that means you’ll have a mild winter.
Great to hear from you Allie. I’m glad you and your family had a nice summer. And congratulations on your new job opportunity. Welcome to the world of adjunct faculty! I left my full-time staff member at my university last year to become adjunct faculty and I’ve loved the flexibility and engagement with students (I could do without the grading, but a necessary evil!). I hope your academic year is off to a great start — best of luck! It gets easier every semester once you figure out what works and what doesn’t.
I forgot you were a professor! What do you teach? Forgive me, but it escapes me. So far, I like it, but it was rough at the start. Because I was hired late, I had to hit the ground running – learning the on-line learning system (BlackBaord), developing the syllabus(!) and uploading all the info. Oh, and reading the text book. I wasn’t too nervous about the material (accounting hasn’t changed much), but I was intimidated by the “on-line” learning. Confession, when I was in college, the internet had not been invented yet. LOL! And last week I spent way more time than I wanted to grading assignments – and I have a small class. yikes.
I teach Business Communication and Professional Development (think presentations, resume, interviewing, etc.). It’s a fun course to teach once I convince the students they aren’t the brilliant communicators they think they are 🙂 Yes, the first semester/year is a lot of trial and error. I had a steep learning curve as well with e-Learning/BlackBoard and building my syllabus from scratch. But now I just make tweaks and it is much easier prepping for and teaching the class. And because of that, I feel I enjoy it more. I teach 140 students on average per semester (three classes) and I always say I am going to give less feedback when grading because it just takes so much time, but I never hold myself to that because I feel what is my purpose if not to help them improve as much as possible. So there are a few nutty weeks, but then it calms down. You find your rhythm! Enjoy!
What a wonderful, busy, packed summer you had! Good luck with your new endeavors!
What a lot of traveling and visiting, and of course new adventures and time to rest your mind from all the stresses of this past year!
It never ceases to amaze me how when one decides to make a change without knowing exactly how things are going to turn out, that all of a sudden, the jobs (in your case) present themselves. What a blessing!
Happy things are working out. Road trip sounds great!
Wow. Well mine was fun and fast and furious.
But YOU! Giving up that job and getting back two better ones. WOW. And is the anxiety gone or mostly gone? I have totally been there… too many times to count.
Good for you!
I want to go to Captiva.
Captiva is wonderful! Second only to the Cape:) I swear! Anxiety – I’m too scared to say it’s gone. I feel like it’s in remission? I’m in a good place, but actively managing it. Avoiding triggers!
I absolutely LOVED reading all about your summer Allie! WOW. The memories you have been able to capture for your family with these incredible trips will last a lifetime. I’m So glad you were able to refuel on the road after what seems like a very stressful work situation and I’m SO glad you left that place and just look how the opportunities found YOU afterward. I hope these two jobs are in healthy environments that won’t cause added anxiety and stress for you.
Reading about each of your kids was so fun. They are all so unique in their own ways and gifted with a mama who adores them.
It was SO good to come here and read your updates. I’ve missed you!!
Christine! I missed you and your sweet comments. How are you??!?!
What a great story of the universe delivering. And I’m telling you that you’re glowing in the “after” pictures from the beach trip ON once you’re no longer at that company. Good for you!!!
Thanks Nina – you made my day with your sweet comment.
I’m so glad you’re back here! I follow you on Instagram so I know all about your summer travels, and congrats on your new jobs!
We both have senior boys this year – both exciting and bittersweet.
Thanks Dana! I’m happy to be “back.” And yes, the senior year…not sure what will will be harder. The first senior year, or the last?