7ToF: Except it's Tuesday.

1. One of the reasons I went on a blogging break this summer is because I knew it would be crazy. It turned out to be even more crazy than I was expecting. After all the craziness around MadMax's graduation, I ended up being out of town for four of the next five weeks. That's the most I've been away from home ever. Some of it, most of it, was really fun, but it was such a relief to be back home again.

2. The extra week away was to stay with my mom while she had unexpected surgery. She had a mammogram in the spring which showed a suspicious lump, which ended up being early stages of cancer. Her outlook is good, but all of us who love her would be grateful if you sent a get-healthy blessing her way.

3. I'm typing this on my new laptop. Six years later, I finally decided it was time to move on, and I love love love this new one. It has a solid state drive (SSD) instead of a traditional hard drive, and it is fast and quiet.

4. Preparations to get MadMax off to college continue. I'm intermittently misty-eyed over some sweet memento and thrilled about the new stage of life we're moving into (empty nesters! wow!). I am continuing said preparations entirely without MadMax's help. What color bedspread do you want, I ask him. He looks at me blankly. Can't I just take my old one? So far he seems to consider his college adventure to be about fishing and hunting on the weekends, and maybe he'll be able to sneak out occasionally during the week. We have to remind him that he will need to study.

5. He broke up with his girlfriend of four years this week, which was heartbreaking for both of them. It's so hard to see your kids hurting, which includes her because she's been part of our family since they were in eighth grade. But they've been moving in different directions the past year or two and it will be good for both of them to try dating some other people. But, ouch. Ouch.

6. Reader Laurel and her wife Kami are biking from Mexico to Canada this summer. They started at the Mexico border back in June, and they're just about to finish up, probably later this week. Apologies for the late notice, but if you want to read about their trip, Laurel has been blogging and posting spectacular pictures here.

7. I'm officially declaring the end of my midlife crisis. I see now why there are so few people blogging about this stage of life, because who wants to read it? I had my few months of wallowing in my disappointment over all the things I'll never do, but I've had several sharp wake-up moments in the past few weeks that have done their work. I have two healthy kids and a spouse who not only still loves me 32 years later but puts up with all my crap. I live in a spectacularly beautiful place, and I am one lucky woman. Moving on. Thanks for putting up with me.

One thing I realized this summer is that I'm not a big fan of blogging to a schedule. So I'm going to stop doing it. I end up posting things I don't care about because the post I do care about isn't ready yet, and then I get distracted and never finish the first one, etc. It always astonishes me that anybody reads my drivel at all, so you're all a miracle to me.

Happy August. Hope you're having a great summer.