Hi there,
Last night we had what I hope was not our last family dinner ever (far from it, Lord willing!), but at least a focused family dinner that I insisted we intentionally put on the calendar before extended family and friends all start coming in for the wedding next week. I wanted time with just the five of us for one last time, around the table eating dinner, with a post-dinner walk and an evening of board games.
It did not disappoint. Our dinner conversation was delightfully ordinaryâwe simply went around and named our favorite parts of our days, as well as something we each learned (as weâve done for years now)âthen we took the dog on a walk and witnessed a beautiful pink-orange sunset. We came back, cleaned up from dinner, and then played a few rounds of Apples to Apples and a few rounds of Clue (which we have officially outgrown). That was it. But it was just what I wanted.
Sheâll still come over for dinner, of course, but itâll most likely be with her husband in tow (as it should be!). I wanted to make sure I mentally captured one final evening with just my three kids, goofing around with each other, poking and prodding at each other with their humor (when did they each get so funny?), and watching my husband slowly fall asleep in the chair next to them. It was a lovely evening.
âŚAnd now: eight days and counting until the wedding! đ¤Ż
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5 Quick Things âď¸
1. If youâre a Commonplace subscriber, head over to Mayâs chat for all things books: what you read last month, what youâre reading now, whatâs on your TBR stack. After a long season of reading and rereading ancient works for both my class and for my book-writing research, I am SO ready for summer reading⌠I have so many ideas and wonât get to a fraction of them, but the anticipation is lovely.
2. Earlier this week I took a mental walk down memory lane, from my daughterâs day of birth until basically yesterday. I may write a separate essay about that experience sometime, but in the meantime, Iâll summarize by saying Iâm so glad I followed the Lordâs nudge to do so, because while yes, I was a mess of hot tears doing so, it was both cathartic and encouraging to just let myself feel all the feelings about my first-born getting married. âŚWasnât she just that two-year-old toddler playing with blocks and talking my ear off incessantly? Wasnât she just the nine-year-old we took on our round-the-world school-year trip who celebrated her tenth birthday in a hot air balloon over the Masaai Mara in Kenya? Didnât she just start middle school and become friends with the two girls who will be her maids of honor next weekend? Didnât she just get her driverâs license and drive to the store for me for the first time? ...Donât blink, parents. All the clichĂŠs about time are true.
3. I quite enjoyed following along Megan Hyatt Millerâs experience of becoming a beekeeper (something on my own must-do-just-for-fun list). Delightful! Bees are remarkable.
4. Thanks to a reader here (make yourself known in the comments here so I can thank you personally again!) for linking to a dress pattern when I was bemoaning the lack of good mother of the bride dresses⌠Because I ended up using that pattern to make my own dress! It was never on my bucket list to make my own MoB dress, but Iâm so glad I did. Is it perfect? âŚDonât look too closely at it. But I really like it, and itâll be fun to wear. Plus: IT HAS POCKETS.
5. And finally, if you want to nod furiously in agreement and let your eyes water inconveniently, read Shawn Smuckerâs poem about AI. Yes, AI. âAnd be sure to use AI when your next child gets married, so that you can write them the perfect toast or poem or speech or song because no one wants to hear your words, the actual poorly written words of a parent (you) who changed hundreds of diapers for said childâŚâ
Currently Reading, Watching, Listening đť
My daughterâs Reminds Me of Mom playlist she made me a few years ago for Motherâs Day
Quotable đŹ
âThe day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.â
-Alden Nowlan
What does the month of May mean to you? đ¸
It wasnât until I had school-age children that I understood what was the big deal about âMaycember;â up to then it came across to me like parents putting too much on themselves and making the end of the school year busier than it needs to be. âŚThen I understoodâeven as a homeschooling parentâthat there are just so. many. events. that are kid-related and put upon us in May which are simply outside our control. (Clearly my asking this question had to do with my state of mind last week.)
Iâm happy to report that even with my daughter getting married next weekend and my son graduating the week after, Iâm already feeling saner, now that my only day of teaching left is basically the âpresentations + wrap-up gameâ kind of class. Put a fork in me, I am DONE. Iâm ready to celebrate my children! âŚAnd then move on to a much, much chiller summertime schedule.
Itâs Maycember â tied with December as the most insane month of the year: 30.5%
My favorite month â spring weather, delightful calm: 22.7%
Freedom! School ends and itâs the start of summertime: 21.9%
Meh â itâs just another month: 19.9%
Blergh â the weatherâs blah where I am (and/or allergies are insane): 5%
Find the next poll here.
Historic Highlands: Join Our 2026 Scottish Pilgrimage! đ´ó §ó ˘ó łó Łó ´ó ż
Travel is one of the most formational activities we can do on earth; one of the few that, for the most part, is worth the money spentâthatâs been the case with pilgrimages for me, and itâs one of the reasons I love leading them.
Consider joining my family and me (along with some new kindred spirits) in Scotland this summer! Weâll walk through the rugged highlands, wander through the halls of medieval castles, and more. You wonât regret it.
âThere is no other place like Scotland in the whole world.â - Sir Walter Scott
Quick Links đ
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đ´ó §ó ˘ó łó Łó ´ó ż Join the next pilgrimage: Scotland!
Question(s) For You to Ponder⌠đ¤
If you have children: whatâs your earliest memory of parenting? Or, whatâs your earliest memory from your own childhood? -How do these compare to yesterday?
And a happy Motherâs Day to all moms reading this! Your work is so valuable, so needed, and so often unseen⌠Cheers to you and your late nights, early mornings, and all the errands in-between.
Have a good weekend,
- Tsh
p.s. - I love watching this⌠(I saw it in person in Ireland, and have a feeling weâll get to see it in person again this summer in Scotland!).
Thanks for sharing, Tsh...and a wedding! Unbelievable. We're only a few months behind you! Have a wonderful time!
May Tate's wedding be a day of joy, love, and fun! A mingling of the bittersweet tears of time gone too fast with the tears of joy from the celebration of the sacrament!