Life (Concerts)

Fridays are when my emotions tend to hit me.

I don't know if it's because Summit Place is so empty, but memories swirl in my head. I feel as though the children are growing up faster than ever. Seven to eight for Levi has been the sweeping away of the little boy, even as the little boy will not go quietly. He's still quick to tears when angry, but his adult teeth growing in in front makes him look older. 

Also, things are getting easier in some respects. Yesterday, there was no big scene as he got dressed for his concert. No crying, no tantrums. He just got dressed and went back to playing his Nintendo Switch. We went to the concert and the kids sang and we laughed. Afterwards, Naomi begged to go to Dairy Queen, and at first Sarah and I resisted. Long night, we said. Time to get ready for bed. 

Neither kid was hearing it, and I thought to myself, let's go. Let's go to Dairy Queen. You've earned it. You worked on these songs with your music teacher, you've listened to direction, you've dressed up and sang. And we can't take you to Dairy Queen? Nonsense.

So we went to DQ and it was mobbed because a lot of people had the same idea. It took us 20 minutes to get our ice cream cones, but so what? For once, it felt like Franklin had a gathering place. Kids happily goofed around or wolfed down ice cream. Naomi played with her bestie Nora. It felt wonderful, like community. I talked to several parents, and realized that we have so many people that we can do things with, and to have a spot to gather is great.

I put the kids to bed, and both listed the concert and DQ as their favorite part of the day. Hard to argue. Might have been my favorite of the year so far.