Dear Maggie —

My inbox is bursting at the digital seams right now, and I haven’t brought myself to weed through my emails after being gone a week with my family. I know there were some letters from Mr. Holley (guess I should get to those!) and the 648 alerts on my phone are starting to make me twitch, but honestly, this week started with such a wonderful distraction!  How about that solar eclipse!?!  I was able to head up to SMOS to watch it with my kiddos on the blacktop and it was such a delight!  I am so grateful to have had such an epic experience of witnessing all of the students be so interested in a national event that didn’t involve the words ‘Taylor Swift’ or ‘March Madness’.  The wonder and awe were overwhelming and I, for one, am so happy that SMOS embraced this opportunity to allow our young students to witness this magnificent event. I’m curious – did you watch it from the blacktop or did you get a spot closer to the stage so to speak (or were you still down at the Villages – see I do read some things!!)?  Oh, and if there’s anything I need to know about that’s happening at school, toss that in there too.

— Languishing Lindsey

Dear Languishing —

That solar eclipse was to die for…well almost!  I headed down to Perryville to watch with a few nun friends of mine, and we had 3 minutes of totality. Seeing that ring around the moon made me tear up a little bit, feeling like I was seeing God’s handiwork happen right in front of my eyes! Speaking of – that’s a benefit of being in the spirit world – I didn’t need any special glasses, since I don’t really have eyes that can get damaged anyway (it’s complicated!).  Another bonus – not having to sit in 5+ hours of traffic to get back to St. Margaret of Scotland.  Boy, I felt back for all the mortals who had to travel back home via the roads.  Sometimes it really pays to be able to float through life like I do! 

Bernie and Terry and I raced back from Florida just in time to see the solar event.  We would have stayed down at the Villages a little longer, but FL was not in the path of totality (a phrase I never thought I’d use!) – and so, back to MO it was.  Oy vey (that’s a new term I picked up in Florida), are there A LOT of old people down there – or maybe, more precisely, there are a lot of people who act old down there. We were glad to get back to be around the kids again! 

In fact, Bernie and Terry decided to stay back and watched the eclipse on the blacktop with the kids.  They were very proud of how few kids tried to burn their corneas by looking at the eclipse without their special glasses.  (Although, apparently one Middle Schooler did try to sneak in a pair of 3D glasses instead.  Putting that parental release to good use.)  Way to go Dragons!  And you’re right about how in awe the kids were – at one point, a hush fell over the entire student body and lasted for a minute or so.  You could hear a pin drop – which I think is some sort of elementary school record!  Maybe we should have more eclipses – sure beats trying to hold up two fingers to quiet them down!  And everyone was so busy looking up, they didn’t even seem to notice the bushes that had been removed from the front of the parking lot!  It’s the first steps in preparation for the new fence that will be installed around the playground and the Castleman circle later this Summer.  Oh surprise – I’m guessing you might have missed that we’re getting a new fence.

Now, I can’t sign off without commenting on your message woes – even though you weren’t really asking for my help.  Girl, you need to get that inbox under control!  That is way too many notifications – and if you still haven’t gotten to those letters from Mr. Holley, then times a-wasting!  You cannot rely on my column only for your SMOS news – although I do appreciate the unintentional compliment in the fact that you’re reading me first. I get it – I’m more fun.  But that’s no reason to put it off longer.  Get to that inbox, and languish no more!  And while you’re at it, close some of those 972 tabs you have open on Safari in your phone! (Is anyone else tab-phobic like I am??  It gives me nightmares thinking of all of those tabs open – just waiting there 😱- I have like 12, and I already want to grab my phone to close them ASAP!)  I don’t want to hear from you again until you’ve cleaned up that mess (that’s totally not true – you can write me back right away if you like!).  That’s called tough love.  I learned it at the Villages.  Deal with it. (You’re welcome! 😀)

— Maggie