five things I learned in April

Every month I learn new stuff. Stuff that’s fun, and stuff that matters.

So here’s a quick reflection on April.

1. Grade school orchestra concerts are beautifully terrible.

My older grandson plays the bass. He’s the only kid in the orchestra that plays it, and he loves and is quite good at it. For real, not just my Nini-pride talking I promise. So of course we go to all his concerts and I have eyes only for him even as my ears are completely assaulted with all the learners.

Actually I knew this fact once upon a time, when my own kids took their turn at learning new instruments, but I had forgotten the magnitude of terrible awe of a concert.

2. I have to have a hip replacement in July.

OK so this is bad news. I didn’t want to hear it. I resisted going to the doctor because I knew it was coming. And since I had my other hip replaced about three years ago, I don’t have the bliss of ignorance this time. Recovery will be easier because I know what to expect, and it will be awful because I know what’s coming. Boo.

3. Re-reading Simply Tuesday by Emily Freeman has been really good for me.

The truth is that I flipped back to the beginning and immediately started over because I just knew that I had missed stuff. That I needed to ruminate more slowly on much of what she has to say there, because I devoured it the first time.

And indeed I was right. I’m learning the depths of moving small through this world that wants big and exciting and fast.

4. My youngest grandson’s growing vocabulary is increasingly hilarious.

Suffice it to say he gets some of his consonants wrong. And he loves trucks.

5. Sometimes grief hits you like a ton of bricks when you least expect it.

Like, 11 years later. And it’s confusing and exhausting and I’m pretty sure I’m processing the loss of “my” children in a way I never have and so the delayed grief is coming in waves.