My August project wasn’t a project at all.
August turned out to be a month of movement. I stayed in three different states and drove through five others, covering around 2,040 miles. I knew it would be a month of transitions, packing and unpacking, and lots of time behind the wheel, so I decided to plan most of my free days around family.
I spent time with my mom creating art for the local county fair. I helped her create two pieces: one was a painting of flowers in a cowboy boot, which seemed appropriate for a fair. The other was a paper collage of a bird, since my mom loves the birds that come to her feeders outside her window. We had fun working on the projects together, and I was so proud when she came home with two ribbons, including a Best of Show! We also enjoyed a couple of special meals together.
I took each of my three Texas grandsons on an individual date. They each got to choose an activity and a restaurant for lunch. I ended up with pizza for lunch on two of the three days, but it was so worth it. I loved having that one-on-one time with each of them and getting to see what they wanted to do.
Over those three days, I visited two different museums, one playground, and the duck pond three times. One chose the Veterans Museum because he loves everything military, even though we’d been there before. The littlest one chose the playground in my old neighborhood because it was always his favorite thing to do when he would visit. And the oldest opted for the Sam Houston Museum since neither of us had been before.
We almost always visit the duck pond on outings. It’s the same duck pond where I took my kids when they were little, so it’s fun to take my grandkids there now. It has a huge cypress tree that I always take pictures of the boys standing beside. It’s become a bit of a tradition, even though they don’t always want to cooperate. We also enjoyed some lovely family meals and plenty of time together at home.
All those miles on the road were worth it when I reached my final destination and got to spend more time with my daughter and her family. Because of the distance, I don’t get to spend as much time with these two grandsons, so I thoroughly enjoyed having several days to simply be Grandma—or “Christmas Tree,” as they call me. It’s my grandma name, given to me on a whim by the older one, and somehow it stuck. I love it! We ended the month with a birthday celebration for my youngest grandson.
Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t plan a project for August. Instead, I let the month unfold into something I hadn’t planned for: a month filled with precious time with my family.
