A New Chapter

in·cor·ri·gi·ble

 adjective \(ˌ)in-ˈkȯr-ə-jə-bəl, -ˈkär-\ : 
not able to be corrected or changed

pre·co·cious

 adjective \pri-ˈkō-shəs\of a child : having or showing the qualities or abilities of an adult at an unusually early age

I know full well I've brought this upon myself. His personality, with all its melodrama and attitude is a mirror image of myself. I cannot say enough how frightening this is. My mother prayed for a carbon copy of myself as a child because she thought it would be fitting. Seeing as she has a direct line with God, the inevitable happened..and here we are. 
*sigh*
This picture, while slightly humorous at the moment, was not funny this morning when I was attempting to be super mom;documenting precious moments and memories that we were going to then cherish FOREVER. As I began writing on that stupid white board he looked at it and said, I'm not holding that!!- I screamed, of course you are!! This is for posterity!- Fine. he said, completely disgusted. Now what do you want to be when you grow up? I asked. Why do I have to tell you that?! -was the reply. 
WYATT!!!! Just tell me what you want to be when you grow up!!!!! Why does everything have to be a battle?!?!? WHY???
I don't know what I want to be -was his nonchalant response. 
Fine- I said. Just forget it. 
Ugh. Really people, I know already to pick my battles, and is this how we I wanted to start the first day of school, fighting over a white board of his future?
This morning is just a very small excerpt of how every day of our summer has been. He and I grate on one another until we're raw and emotionally overexposed....yet we'd be completely lost without one another. I'm at a loss. Having said all this, I was half doing a happy dance jig as he got on that bus and half weeping on the inside. As the bus drove away, he didn't even look back. In all fairness he was probably doing a happy dance jig as well. 
All I can do is pray that his first day goes as well as it possibly can....yet another thing I can't control. Such is life.

I fear adolescence. 

He's lucky he's stinkin' adorable

Big Boy

Luckily there's another kid and mom at his bus stop too-

Thankfully it said HIS on the side, so I know we put him on the right bus and not some random vehicle that stopped....

Blog Digression..

After another fabulous, last-minute trip back to Taiwan with Will for a business trip, Wyatt and I found ourselves running through airports, attempting to make connections, picking up bags, blah blah blah, all in an effort to make it back for Wyatt's orientation that was to be Friday AM. With Will coming back Saturday; I was on my own.

Let me get it out there and just say as a person I feel as if I've grown a bit over the past year or more......more patience? Hmmm. Well, while that may be a stretch, whatever I feel my growth has been, this all dissipated moments upon entering the airport with my smart mouthed seven year old son. I was my worst self. I was stressed, harried, and I'm pretty sure I whined like a teenage girl and almost burst into tears a minimum of three times. THREE.  I'm thinking about it now and I'm actually cringing with embarrassment.  I hate myself. 

As we sat in my new hellish nemesis also known as the Haneda airport, I read an e-mail that stated Wyatt's orientation had been cancelled. Of course it had. Eventually getting beyond my own selfish angst, the reasoning behind the cancellation was because of flooding, landslides and loss of life. Clearly I needed to get over myself. 

The Next day.....

Quick thinking PTA members put together a make shift meet and greet at a local coffee shop so the new kids and parents could get to know each other. 

Awesome!

Yeah....not really. Let's get down to it. As parents we do a lot for our kids. Meeting new people in a new environment to make introductions while making idle chit chat as everyone silently judges one another is not really my idea of a super fun time. It's nauseating. I totally empathized with my son who was going through the exact same thing....but who was taking it way better and with an air of confidence many of us WISH we had. 

I wished for a 1/2 ounce of that confidence as I stood looking in the mirror this morning and saw my gray roots/purple highlights with an old haggard face and a fatty body the summer had not been kind to.

And again I say- Awesome! 

So I dragged my son out next door, bought some hair dye to avoid looking like a grandma with a nose ring and made some cookies and a couple loads of laundry. I'm such a domestic. 

With my roots fresh, I left the apartment with a tad more zing, prepared and ready to meet and greet. All things being said, at the end of the day, I'm extremely glad we went- it's important that Wyatt and I start connecting with this new environment and country. This was the first step in getting us me there. Hooray! 

June

June.

What the crap happened in June? I swear, I’m trying to catch everyone up to speed but I swear to you it is all a blur. Gah!

** Disclaimer**I will do my utmost to recount activities and events in the most truthful manner possible.

OK- soooooo June was a heavy month emotionally. I’ll try not to get too hung up on certain stuff, but it was a bit of a life changer for our family.

First- Wyatt successfully completed his first grade year. It was touch and go for he and I this school year, but by the end I feel like we had a rhythm of some sort going on...like things had definitely improved from where we were in August 2013. (Read: homework battle ceasefire)

(Note: it is now the end of the summer and that is no longer the case. Yeah for second grade she cheered sarcastically…)

Conclusion: He and I are just too much a like. I’ll let it stand at that.

Second- The movers came to pack us out.

OK. So a bazillion blog posts have been written about expat “packouts” and how one processes these emotions. Well I didn’t then, but I am now. And let me just get it out there and vent. It sucks. I love Taiwan. I love the culture, the people…I love how I adjusted, I loved my activities, the hiking, my volunteering and writing, the biking..I loved the relationships that I had built and the fact that I had women I could trust and pour my heart out to. I loved that my son had a social network of loving demonstrative friends that he essentially grew up with. I loved that I was finally able to communicate in Mandarin. Moving is hard, but this one just plain hurt.

I had my most valuable items in this purse. Hanging on the wall. The mover asked me at the beginning, is there anything not to pack? I said, PLEASE. PLEASE do not pack my purse. It is hanging on this hook on the wall. Naturally my purse got packed. I freaked and it then got unpacked.
Argh. 

Third- Illness- Again, without getting into the nitty gritty, let me just say that there is nothing like a major medical emergency to slap you in the face, shake you up and remind you that your time on earth is limited-We are not immortal. I learned that I am weak and completely inadequate. The Lord called me up and told me who was in control.

PS. It’s not me.

Fourth- We met our son. (*See new tab- Adopting AJ). More on that later………

Fifth-We moved to Hiroshima Japan. But more on that later………

Sixth- The last week of June Wyatt and I flew to the US and chillaxed in New Jersey. It was decadent.

And for all you haters- save your Jersey comments for another time.

 Lastly...

Wyatt and I had many  sweet, soggy, sweaty, chatty rides on this bike. I know it's about the memories and not the bike- but it was still pretty hard letting it go. My little boy is growing up.........