Summer in South Orange

Pictures to come, as I don't have my photo cord with me, but I'm happy to report that we are having a great summer in South Orange! Fer and Wendy attended a 4 week summer ESL program at their new school, took a 2-week karate class, and this week are going to a weeklong art camp with a good friend. In between, they enjoyed time with old and new friends at the town pool and on our block, swimming and bike riding and generally running around and playing. For someone who didn't drive for almost 20 years, I have to pat myself on the back a bit that with the help of my Mother's Day GPS system, I have piloted myself successfully around town and everywhere I have needed to go. Haven't tried NJ highways yet, but I'm sure that's in my future, and for now, I'm doing very well on all the town roads and byways.

We are blessed in our new life with wonderful neighbors and friends who have been so kind and supportive as we have made this transition to from city to suburb. As my mother keeps pointing out, moving can be lonely and stressful, and while this move has at times been the latter, it has certainly not been the former. I don't know what the Universe is trying to tell me but we have had two days of significant key issues, one when Chris took the only car keys into the city and left us without transportation for the day, and the other when I grabbed car keys instead of house keys and walked out to walk the dogs, realizing my mistake as I slammed the door behind me. In both cases, our friends helped us out, on the one day shuttling the girls to camp and karate and me to where I needed to go, and on the other, providing me with a safe haven and soothing cup of tea as I made phone calls to try to track down our contractor who has a key and who finally came to let me back in.

We do continue to have some challenging times at home, but considering the transitions the girls have had to make in their lives, they have adapted incredibly well. They are making new friends, enjoying the different activities, reading lots of books for the summer reading program at the library, and overall are having a really good summer. We feel very grateful and blessed.