The quiet in-between.

This has been a quiet week, thus far.

We're in the in-between where the school year is still fresh, as are the daily routines. This and that are still being ironed out.

The days are warm and the nights cool. How does one decide what to wear when the temps hover around 50 degrees at breakfast, but near 90 degrees by mid-afternoon? A t-shirt and jeans? Shorts and a long-sleeved shirt? Never mind convincing a jeans-loving, shorts-leery boy that he'll roast come lunchtime if he wears that. 

How does one reconcile their love of fall with their reluctance to bid summer farewell? 

Most mornings I take a few moments, coffee in hand, to catch up on my blogroll. I've noticed a pensiveness, melancholy even, among many of my fellow bloggers. In fact, two of my favorites, each vastly different, announced they are taking a leave of absence, indefinitely, from their blogs. I wonder if it is the season for such things. With the changing leaves comes a time for reevaluation; a time to dig a little deeper into what it is we truly desire for ourselves.

This has certainly been true for me.

While I figure out what the in-between looks like, I'm spending my post-drop off mornings tidying up and tackling those last, lingering projects. I enjoy the routine and mundane nature of things during those hours when the house is still. This surprises me; I've spent so much of my adult life resisting the role of "homemaker".

Busy and too busy will come with a new job and additional schooling, but being idle is also not an option. Lately, I've been wondering if I should revisit my youth by spending my days whipping up pumpkin spice lattes again. It was noncommittal, fun, and where I met many lifelong friends. Though I feel like I'd be fulfilling some sort of post-collegiate stereotype. I don't mind.

This is the first week that feels like real life. Mario on the road, Kiddo in school + cross country. This weekend a group of friends are coming to town, which in some way will serve to solidify our residency in this, our chosen place. A celebration of our new life in a new town on a new coast with old friends.

There's a lot to be said for stability. When you're where you want to be, doing what you want to do, stable is less easily confused with mundane.

In the last few days...

 // There was a morning work session and a quick lunch at a new (to us) restaurant. I've been feeling a little detached from Husband, with all the work projects that keep his phone glued to his ear and fingers to keyboard. It happens from time to time when life gets a little crazy. (Which usually prompts my Let's sell everything and work for nonprofits hypothetical.) 

Taking a few minutes to break bread and talk about our lives was one of those big little things. You know?

 

// Saturday was Kiddo's first ever cross country meet. The kids rode the bus to Tillamook, where the race took place, and Mario and I headed up on our own. First, we stopped by the Portland Farmers Market. It's in a lovely part of town we had yet to explore, and immediately became one of our favorite things about living here. We will be back, no doubt. 

Breakfast, consumed while sitting criss-cross applesauce on the grass, was a handmade chicken tamale (me) and chicken in a biscuit (for him). There was also a jar of bacon pickles and lots of oohs, aahs and look at that!s. If the car wasn't going to sit in the hot sun all day, I would have been all over those purple carrots and Hatch chilies.

// Then came the race, which took place on a hydrangea farm. Who knew such a place even existed?! It was magical. That kiddo of mine... he ran. He took 10th place (out of 70) in his division. And then, instead of heading home with us, he decided to stick out the last 4+ hours and take the bus home so he could cheer on his teammates.

 // And with that unexpected free evening came dinner on the water. //