Summer 2023

I'm sure Nick will look back on his childhood and my yelling voice will be what echos in his ears.  I told him, "Do you ever get annoyed that I never let up?"  He says, "Yes, but you also never let me down."  So that's something.  Most of this month was 'nipplegate' as he has an infected body part that requires ointment and care, don't ask how he injured it. He's in better shape than the beetle that Brandi deep-fried on the back porch, it crawled into her fish fry and she flung it out to the pavement nicely battered.  Fancy meal for the ants.

We had some more heavy winds this month, threats of bad weather.  My father says, when there's risk of a tornado, he stuffs his pockets with cash before he hunkers down in the crawlspace or the hallway.  So we know his body will be worth hunting for! Nick wouldn't know it hit us, he'd be head-down in a 'prop jam' with his buddies online.

The summer months have been uneventful, mostly driving practice, which at this point I'm confident he's ready to drive alone.  That means he's ready to drive to school in the fall, which we practice back and forth to school often. There's a new joint next to school called Sunrise Skillet which Nick likes the food, so that's a motivator. We've got him a good parking spot, back of the lot, by a post, not under a tree, etc. We scouted the lot one morning and noted all the best spots before picking one online.  Very pleased with the one we got. He needed a nudge to get a haircut for the start of school, which you'll see he got at the deadline, photo here from the first day of junior year.

I got to a Mud Hens ballgame with Jay late in the season, there's a photo here of Nick washing his car one evening after we finished mowing Grandpa's lawn, a little outdoor picnic with the HOA neighbors, and I bought a truck (because Nick is going to want his car here soon, and I wanted a truck), those pretty much sum-up the summer.

Jason