Dear Mica,

You turned 16 today. 16 years ago I I had a c-section because I was low on fluid, you were breech and refused to turn. 

About a week later we bought a car that would in fact fit a car seat. The 2 door Subaru I had wasn’t going to cut it. The Pilot is long since gone, but we still have our Civic today. It’s on its last leg, but cars are expensive with the pandemic. On Friday you’re getting your drivers permit a year late. Last year DMVs were closed. 

You’re excited to go in to high school. Most of the previous year you were remote. You are not excited to wear a mask, and have others wearing masks. You just want to see people’s faces, but you know it’s important to stop the spreadYou’re more open to try new things this year in school. Tennis was going to be a sport you wanted to play. After learning it would never be at school, and there was no late bus we said, “No.” 

Last year we struggled with your crooked back. The specialist said your growth plates are close together, as long as you’re not in pain you’re fine. 

You’re taking your first college course this summer, Philosophy. Our conversations have been interesting. 

Birthday gift: A new phone. Gifts get more expensive as you age. 

I haven’t taken you out for photos, but here you are getting your phone, and at Olive Garden for your birthday meal.

Creepy face just to mess with me.

 

Beans!

We’ve had a few storms that killed off some things, but not the beans! We always get tons of beans. 

I should mention that Travis took a leap year in the garden. He did so much last year and the year before. We still have plenty of canned tomatoes and tomatoes cubes in the deep freezer, saved for soups. 

Travis typically throws them in a gigantic pile on a towel. Leaves and grass is all over. I’m not complaining. He plants them and picks them. 

We had some company coming over, so I weeded the grass and leaves out, shook the towels, and sorted the kind of neatly. 

What did you grow this year? 

Backsplash is Done

We finished the backsplash last weekend. I ended up returning one thing I bought; in the process I found something that matched our floor exactly. I kept thinking…where was this product when I needed it? 

Isaak helped minimally. He kind of gets excited about projects, then lazy soon after. It’s either his slight ADD, or just being a thirteen year old boy. 

I did most of the spackling, sanding, cutting, and placing.  

I know…we still have crappy old countertops. I’d love to find plates I like. As soon as I’d find one I liked, they would have one of our others that was similar. 

I got a ton of peaches to make smoothie prep bags. 

Isaak did sign and date his photo to put inside the backsplash; just like the previous owner put a photo in there for us to find.