keep calm, Summer Reading is almost over!

When we were kids my brothers played football--around this time the guys started practicing in preparation for the fall, their first week back was called, "Hell week," in which the coaches ran the guys ragged under a hot sun. Endless sprints. Endless drills. Constant motion. My brothers would come home exhausted and grumpy. I think of all this today because, as the old adage goes, "when it rains, it pours," and somehow all the stars have aligned and made this my hell week.

Not only is this our last week of Summer Reading (so Sticks Library is as busy as ever) and it's full of activities, but I'd also won a scholarship to attend the Mazza Museum's Summer Conference; Prairie Dawn and I had it all figured out so I could go to many of the sessions, while still managing to be here for programs to lend an extra hand. But none of that matters now--my car is going into the shop tonight--my fuel line and fuel filter shot. I felt miserable last night, my voice trembling as I told my brother A3 about this awful week: the Summer Reading Pool Party is Wednesday AND I have a doctors appointment that I can't miss AND "how am I supposed to drop my car off 45 minutes from here!?" AND I'm missing this beautiful, wonderful conference AND "it's THE LAST WEEK OF SUMMER READING! AND WE'RE SO BUSY!"; AND my car might not be done in time to go home for Lauren's birthday party AND I miss my friends; AND "I'm supposed to be moving!!" (I don't even know how to punctuate the conversation the way it happened!) Sometimes I can be a little dramatic. 

And yet, somehow, it all came together: I'll drive my car to the Pool Party and to my appointment. I'll drop my car off and my friend and her daughter will come pick me up. So, I miss the conference, it sucks, but at least I was able to attend on Monday and meet one of my favorite illustrators and 2013 Caldecott winner, Jon Klassen!! And maybe I won't make the birthday party, but maybe I'll take a day off in the next weeks and make a long weekend of it in Michigan then. And I pushed it and pushed it and got everything but what I've left for the movers out last night and this morning; the hard part is over and now comes the fun of unpacking and setting up a new home.

So, as I sit here and think of all that needs to happen and how busy the next few days are, I'm also thinking about all we've accomplished this summer. How fun it's been. And the huge sigh of relief we can finally unloose Saturday after our Scavenger Hunt (our last activity of Summer Reading).

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