Lent is quickly passing by and so far so good on the not eating meat on Fridays but that takes a great deal less than the daily good acts. I am supposed to write about what I do on a daily basis but the days just scoot by with everything that is going on in the crazy Redfield household. I am sitting on the couch on a rainy Friday evening so I am going to catch up and get back on track. I will simply go day by day:

On Monday the kids were off and they had a relaxing day with their dad. Trey was playing with his buddy Brian for a good portion of the day. As I was driving home from work Brian's mom dropped Maggie and Trey off at my house and I thought.....hmmmmm. Trey and Brian very seldom get to play together and since this was the only day that Trey would be off during Brian's track out that they could get together I decided to call Alicia. I told her to drop Brian off and I would get the boys to baseball practice. This meant that I would have to adjust my schedule a bit but the boys had a great time and I felt like a super mom. I like when my world seems to match "Leave it to Beaver" with the kids playing and going to practice and Dan cooperating with getting them to practice so we were like the happy divorced sitcom. In the end I think i got as much from that good deed as Alicia did by bringing Brian back to me. She had a class to go to with he husband and the boys go to play and to go to practcie together. It was a good karma breeds good karma kind of day.

On Tuesday things were so busy that I knew that the end of the day would come faster than I could get do my good deed. I was a little worried but the good thing about that is that it forces me to try and think outside of the box. I took the time to write a letter that I had been meaning to write for ages. A friend of my dad's is a lovely WWII Army Airborne Veteran who I met at Fort Bragg years ago when I was pregnant with my son Trey. He had been having trouble getting his reservations taken care of for All American week. I took care of the resevations very easily by stopping by the 82nd Airborne HQ and when he got to Fort Bragg he came by to thank me for helping him and his fellow veteran. I introduced him to my boss and other folks in my unit and he loves to tell everyone that he got to hug a female major. He was old school and there were no female majors during WWII and so it was a great All American event! His name is Ralph and I have kept in touch through Christmas cards every year. He is such a great American and part of the greatest generation. He is having medical issues now but he loves his wife and he has such great outlook on life. When he gets my Christmas cards in March or June ( I am a late sender) he always takes the time to write me a personal note. His wife's health is declining and they have moved from their home in NY to live with his children in CT. He never complains and he is so positive. I am not sure what our country will be like without great Americans like Ralph but it made me smile to finally get a letter sent off to Ralph. Airborne!

On Wednesday I was not sure what I would do but one of the custodians at school brought in the uniform of one of my cadets. She had found the uniform stuffed in a locker and it had been there for a month. I knew whose uniform it was and the fact that it had been stuffed in a locker explained why she looked like she had worn it to bed at uniform inspection. She had not worn it this week because her boyfriend was one of the students thrown from the vehicle when it crashed. He was thrown from the vehicle but he was lucky enough to land in a ditch and he lived to see another day. Will was not so lucky and he died and my Cadet was good friends with Will. She was having a very tough week and trying to focus was close to impossible so when the custodian brought in her unifrom I thought, let me drop it off at the dry cleaners. Her mom lost her job so the dry cleaning cost is just one more thing. I dropped the uniform off and my plan is to leave it hanging in the closet in my classroom. I hope it might be something that helps her get her head back in the game while she works through the grieving process.

On Thursday I was coming home from swimming with the kids and I was supposed to drop two of the boys off at the gas station for pick up. As I was leaving the pool I thought I should drop the boys at home. Their mom is the one that does all the carpool planning for all of us and I thought it would be nice to say thank you in actions instead of simply in a note on email. We shot their mom a quick text and then delivered the boys to their front door instead of the car pool drop off point. I think it was a pleasant surprise and that made me feel good since their mom does so much for the kids and the weekly carpool planning. It was not a huge thing but it was a concious decision and it felt good.