The Boys (and Violet) in May

 May was our last full month in our house. It was the last month of relative normalcy before major life changes for us all (John's graduation, moving, the divorce getting finalized). It was a busy month, but a good one.

John

John and Conner are besties. They're funny, and they're weird. One Sunday after church they were walking around holding hands, doing a real-life Fortnite duo (or something like that). I tried to get them to stop by bringing them to each of Conner's parents (his mom is strict and his dad is the stake president), but their hands remained stubbornly locked together. I threatened to take their picture and as you can see, it did nothing. 😆 These crazy guys! 

Here's John enjoying the best napping spot in the house...

{I miss the living room, and this couch, which is now in my storage unit!}

John had his final Pops concert for band. The seniors gathered together for a picture (he's on the right end).

The man standing next to John is the band director, Mr. Hay. He's a wonderful and fun person. I want Sam to do band at HHS just so that he can have him for a teacher.

This was John's last band performance, the Memorial Day concert at the Town Common.

I'm so glad that he stuck with trombone all through middle school and high school. It was good for him.

Sam

Sam had his first in-person piano recital in years. It was at a church that my grandmother used to attend, which was kind of cool. Even cooler was the fact that Sam played his pieces almost perfectly from memory, which was very fortunate because he didn't bring his music with him. So that was a relief. One of the songs he played was Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, which is a longtime favorite of my own to play. 

He found a nice spot to read during reading time.

I don't know what was going on with him on this particular day, but whatever it was, was weird. 😄

And then he proceeded to slide partway down the stairs. I guess he was melting! Or something like that. 

Violet

Violet had a big ugly cyst growing near her neck that kept getting bigger.  

The vet had aspirated some fluid from it a couple months earlier and checked her bloodwork, and it appeared to be a run-of-the-mill cyst that dogs tend to get, but by May it was apparent that it was only getting bigger (and bigger and bigger). I tried to ignore it and hoped it would pop or deflate on its own, but *spoiler alert* she ended up getting surgery to remove it three weeks ago, and it turns out that it was cancerous. Fortunately, it looks like all of the cancer was removed when the cyst was removed. I truly hope so. 🤞 I love my sweet girl and really don't want to lose her to cancer. Or to anything else. 

Violet lays around and sleeps a lot. She lives the exact opposite of my life. She is the yin to my yang! 😆

Senior Dinner at Gillette

 One of the fun events for high school seniors at Hopkinton High in the weeks before they graduate is a senior dinner at Gillette Stadium for all of the students and their parents. (To be clear, they didn't do this when I was a senior there twenty-five years ago--their standards have certainly risen!) It was a very nice evening, and it was a fun way to see where the Patriots play.

I think my hair pulled back with the headband looked better in person than it did in the pictures. At least I hope it did. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

I loved my dress though! It was comfortable and cute and my favorite color to wear. I hadn't worn it or the kitten heels in quite a while. It was fun to get dressed up again.

I cropped this photo for myself for unsaid reasons. 😜 

This was cool!

My cousin Abby was there with her son Ayden, who is my first cousin once removed and John's second cousin. We got a nice group picture of the four of us that was an attempt at a re-creation of a picture of us when the boys were babies and Abby and I were young moms. 

Awwww!

We sat at a table with John's friend Adam and his parents. I've become pretty good friends with Adam's mom, Jen, because of wrestling. We both went to HHS at the same time but she was three years ahead of me. Her brother Rick was in my class. (I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love living in my hometown again!)

I didn't indulge in the dancing (much to John's relief) but John did. It was good to see the kids having fun together for one of the last times.

It was a fun and memorable night. I look forward to doing it again with Sam in five years! (And I'll do better with my hair then, too! I might be wearing the same dress though. 😆)

Friends in May, and the Boston Ballet

 I got to spend an afternoon with Melanie Hansen, one of my best friends from Iowa, when she and her husband (my former stake president, and an ear-nose-throat surgeon) were in Boston for some medical conferences he was attending. I was working at the temple that morning so she met me there at lunchtime, and then I drove her to my town where we had lunch and then went to my house and spent some time there before I drove her back to the temple that evening to go back into Boston. It was wonderful to spend time together again. Melanie has been such a good and supportive friend to me over the years and she's so much fun. I really miss her and all of the walks we used to take together in our neighborhoods. I love that we can get together after not seeing each other for a couple of years and it feels just like old times again.

I had to go to the Cape for a quick overnight trip to do some work on the house and one of my other BFFs, Meredith, joined me. We talked a lot, walked to the beach twice, and went out for a nice dinner and lunch. It made a work-related trip feel more like a relaxing escape to the Cape instead.

And finally, I spent a fun evening in Boston with Meredith and Shelly. We went out to dinner and then went to Boston Ballet's production of Sleeping Beauty, which was good, but honestly, I like the animated Disney movie a lot more. 😆 But it was good to get some nice classic culture in. I hardly ever go to shows and theaters like I used to, and I miss it, so this really felt like a special treat. 

The Boston Opera House is so beautiful!

A lady on the side kind of ruined this shot!

Meredith was doing something funny with her chin and it was making us laugh.

I'm grateful for the good friends in my life and for the fun times we have together!