Thursday, May 22, 2008

A Formal Affair





Last Friday night was 8th Grade Party at Simons Middle School. I had never heard of this event until coming to Fleming County but it is a very big deal around here. It's basically a middle school prom type thing. They don't crown a king and queen but the whole 8th grade votes on about 8 boys and 8 girls to be on the "court." Sunday dress is acceptable but most of the kids wear formal attire. Jarrod, being an eighth grader this year, went to the party. Hannah Pollitt from church was his date for the evening.

In the interest of saving money, or at least getting something for my money, I tried to talk Jarrod into letting me buy him a nice Sunday dress outfit to wear so he would have something he could wear again but nothin' doin'! He HAD to have a tux. Darren agreed that he should have one if he wanted one so we told him we would pay $70 toward renting the tux and the rest would be his responsibility.

He had been mowing and babysitting so he had managed to save up some money and decided that he was responsible enough to open his own checking account so I took him to the bank and he became a depositor. Our next stop after the bank was the bridal shop. By the time we left there he was looking for a bankruptcy attorney! Are you aware of what it costs to rent a tux these days? About the cheapest thing he could get was $149.00! In the end he managed to drum up some work and had enought to pay the balance of his tux rental with some left over.

When Friday night arrived he got all dressed up and ready to go. He was so handsome! I couldn't believe how grown up he looked. We met Hannah and her family to take photos. Hannah looked gorgeous and they made a very cute couple. They rode to the party with a couple of their friends (with a parent driver, of course) after going to Pizza Hut to eat out. Many of the parents and family members hang around the school to watch the kids walk in and watch the announcement of the court. Darren and I needed to go to Maysville so we skipped the spectator opportunity. But now I wish I'd stayed. Jarrod was chosen to be on the court. He was so excited when I picked him up at 11:00 p.m. that night and he had a great time. It was a perfect ending to his eighth grade year and of course we are very proud of him.

Wow! I can't believe my baby will be a freshman in high school next year. Parents, hug your babies because before you know it they'll be all grown up!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Twenty Years and Counting

Darren and I celebrated our twenty year anniversary this week. Well, I'm not exactly sure that "celebrated" is the right word. We had Financial Peace University at church and went to Dairy Queen for ice cream afterwards. After we ate the ice cream (and ditched the evidence so the kids wouldn't find out) we went home and watched tv for a while and then I went to bed while Darren played with his cell phone. Very exciting stuff!

We're hoping to be able to go out this weekend but it's not looking real promising. Jarrod has 8th Grade Party on Friday night and then my nephew's 1st birthday party is Saturday. Oh well, what's twenty years anyway.

I can't believe that we've been married 20 years. We are now older than my parents were when we started dating. Yikes! They just seemed so much older at the time. It has been a good 20 years. Of course we've had our share of ups and downs just like everybody else but I love him more today than the day we were married and I wouldn't change a thing about our lives together. There's no one else I'd rather spend the rest of my life with. Happy 20th Anniversary, Darren. I love you!