September

Thirty-seven feels like it'll be the same as thirty-six. The weirder part is that I've been remembering how old I am. I had been calling myself thirty until I turned thirty-five. Now I'm actually numbering the ages. I can always remember Ro's age. I usually do math to figure out B's age. Everyone else is harder to remember. August went by pretty quickly. Ro went to WA for two weeks. Emmy came to visit during that time. Usually, we have a trip or something lined up, but we just stayed home and played petanque instead. She broke up with her bf though they had been together for fourteen years and living together for 12-13 of them. He has a terminal health issue that causes him a lot of pain and makes him depressed, but he wasn't doing anything to help himself - even letting her help him. He had quit his job sometime in 2024 without having anything else lined up. Things seemed tense when I drove up to help take care of their dogs so they could go to a wedding. I had been hoping they would figure it out. Then it didn't happen. They finally had a nothing fight where he told her to leave. So she did and decided not to return this time. Something similar had happened five or six years ago. They lived separate for less than a year before deciding to get back together and got a dog before COVID. Then they got another dog during COVID. Now they're each taking a dog and their lease is up. He moved back with his dad. She's leasing a studio in Walnut Creek that has everything she needs to live alone with a dog. I tried to talk her into moving to Fresno instead - shorter commute, lower cost of living, social support, close enough but just far enough away from her parents, etc. Ro came back in time to start school and Emmy went to stay with her parents for another two weeks. It seemed lot easier this time. The teacher seemed nice, but then her mom had health issues so she missed a lot of school. Ro has been happy not having too much homework. He now has his online Dungeons and Dragons game and in-person improv class on Tuesdays and violin lessons on Fridays. I'll sign him up for swimming sometime in November after improv is done. We're planning on doing a joint birthday party at the movie theater again with another one of his friends. The plan is to see Howl's Moving Castle and split the cost to pay for the kids' food and everyone's seats this time. All the adults will be on their own for food this time since we bought way too much food last year thinking that everyone would want their own. We ended up getting a membership for the racquet club down the street from our house. B is still playing tennis weekly and wants to play more often. I use the gym. Ro likes using the pool. They're supposed to have a kids room for him to hang out at when we feel like doing things on our own, but they never seem to have it ready. Luckily, people don't seem very strict about kids running around as long as they're quiet. It may be ok for us to park him places with his tablet when we go. I'm still fighting with my health. It seems like the same as what I watched you and my aunts do while we were growing up. I made it to 180lbs, which is more than I've ever weighted. I guess I have to keep keep moving or my weight just balloons like this. I stopped running long enough that I've noticed that my knees don't taking jumping back in as well. I was also having some issues with my left shoulder when trying to do cardio videos at home. I notice I have fewer issues doing exercises with free weights at the gym and using an eliptical for cardio. So, I've started doing that to see what I can do. I'll make an effort to switch to something else if I get bored. I love you and miss you.