A little good and a little bad.......

Sometimes things go smoothly and sometimes they just don't.  And of course there are those times when you get a little bit of both.  This weekend was a swirling, whirling combination of good and bad.  Good.....this is the only picture I took of my son, he is in the middle in the black suit and cap.  Bad.....I forgot my telephoto lens so did not take any photos but this one.  Good.....seeing my beautiful boy.  Bad.....-7 degrees the temp outside on several mornings.  Good.....my son had two best times.  Bad.....he also missed one entire day as he was throwing up along with four other teammates.  Good.....I was able to fuss over him and take care of him the day he was ill.  Bad.....he missed one of his best events.  Good.....I got to see his beautiful face, while he was sleeping beside me, as I sat on the bed next to him knitting.  Bad.....he missed out on a very important swim.  Good.....he was able to recover enough to swim the next morning and get a best time.  Bad.....he threw up after his swim and had to cancel his participation in the evening.  Good we made it to the meet despite having a canceled flight Wednesday evening due to bad weather in Atlanta.  Bad.....I just about had a heart attack that we were not able to make it out Wednesday evening and thought we might miss the meet.  Good.....a friend told me about Allegiant Airlines flying out of St. Petersburg, FL and we were able to book a direct flight the next morning.  Bad.....it cost us about a million dollars.  But we got there, we were with my son, we were able to hug him, take care of him and cheer him on.  I guess there ended up being a lot more good than bad.

 There were many highs and lows this weekend.  And I swear once again knitting came to my rescue.  I knitted in the at the airport, I knitted on the plane.  I frogged my knitting at the hotel and started over again, twice.  I knitted during warm ups and I knitted during cool downs.  I knitted while my son slept, I knitted while he watched a TV show, keeping my eye on him all the while.  I knitted when we returned to the pool, at the hotel and all the way home on the plane.  Knitting helps keep me as calm and centered as I can be at this stage of my life.  It helps during all the highs and lows of my life.  And this weekend I just know I would have fallen apart without it.  I am so thankful I can play with yarn.  I can knit, weave or crochet and it helps to keep me from ending up a crazy woman, or more crazy than I already am.  

  

When we returned home there was a sharp contrast to the  bitter cold weather we had experienced in Iowa.  The temps were near 80 degrees and the flowers were bursting forth with their beauty.

And look what I found, some sort of bird of paradise I think.  This is from a ginormous plant outside my front door.  It has never bloomed before.  These flowers are huge!  I trimmed this plant up last year, maybe all that trimming made it happy?  I think there is another pod of these getting ready to flower. 

My azaleas are just spectacular.  The colors are so beautiful to see.  

And right after I got home and spent oodles of time with Little Buddy, who apparently had the time of his life with all of his Aunt's spoiling him rotten, I finished this.  A tiny sneak peek for you here.  I was only two rows away from finishing before I left.  It was fun to come home and complete something.  So now onto the reality of life.  It has been back to work, back to cleaning up and taking care of Little Buddy.  I am ready for some normalcy in my life if that is even possible.  I have lots to catch up with work-wise.  I have lots to catch up with all of you, too!  I hope to find out how you have all been in the next few days.

Hope you are having a great week!