A Rabbit Resurrected (August)

Friday night of Beach Week, Carrie called me upset. She said there'd be a change when we got home. Based on how she sounded, I guessed it was an animal. Carrie said she'd knew I'd want to come home to help, but she insisted it wouldn't change anything and I should not. 

Carrie didn't want to tell me what it was, but I kept honing in based on what she did and did not say. I didn't want to press too directly, but I thought it would be better to get it over with. 

"It's Hopkins."

Carrie couldn't see it, but my relief was visceral. I thought it was a cat or dog! It never occurred to me she was talking about a rabbit! Much less one that I sometimes forget we owned. It felt like dodging a bullet.

Still, I was sad for Carrie. I wasn't there to help out, so she took care of everything. She told me she found Hopkins non responsive. She couldn't get anything out of him or hear a heart beat, so she eventually carried him off into the woods. 

I said I'd talk to Shane about it, so he'd be prepared when we got home. I told him before bed time and we talked through.

I, also, went downstairs and told Nana, Pop, Matt, and anyone else down there how relieved I was it was just a rabbit! Matt's prejudiced against rabbits anyway (childhood trauma), so he was ready to celebrate!

I was ready to celebrate, too, to be honest. Hopkins had food and water. None of our animals had attacked it. He was a rescue we took in and he got to live out the rest of his life safely. We never interacted with him and now there was one less rabbit to take care of.

The bunny came back.

It was the same night as Champs (a full week after Carrie first told me Hopkins died). Carrie was in bed and I took the dogs with me to do night chores. Kila started to chase a rabbit and I was shocked that she could keep up. The rabbit didn't look like the normal hares we have sprinting around at night. I cornered it behind some trash cans with Kila's help. 

I called Carrie the moment I got a good enough look at it.

She came out and was able to catch the lop. It looked like Hopkins.

It wasn't afraid of the dogs or cats either, like Hopkins.

It had to be Hopkins. He was wet from the storm, but he showed no interest in the hay or water we laid out. If anything, he hopped to the cage door saying, "Ok, can I go now?"

Carrie swore the little guy was dead. Apparently, rabbits can appear dead (and be close to it) without really being dead. Going out in the woods revived the guy.

And if he really like life better outside, we decided to let him have at it.

I saw him in the backyard the next morning.

The day after that he was hanging out on the front porch. It was so hot I put out a water bowl, but he ignored it.

I've seen him a few days since! The dogs will sometimes wander over to say hi and I bet Kila chases him if he's in the yard, but he seems to be living his best bunny life. If he was sick or injured, I'd bring him in, but it's the outside life for him now.

Somehow, Shane hasn't noticed. No, I know why. Shane's been all about electronics. The dogs will bark and I'll spot Hopkins on the porch. Shane will just talk louder and repeat himself to make sure Cole or B heard him.

Which is easier than telling Shane, "Yeah, the bunny is back alive and, no, we're not bringing him inside." It's one of the few times I'm happy Shane can be so oblivious.

JSL Champs (August)

Friday was Champs for summer swim. Shane read to me the whole way to Charlottesville High School.

He kept reading when we parked and started walking (but to himself since we were out of the car!).

The Champs email had set to park at the school and then walk over to the YMCA.

We took a trail and climbed a hill! I knew the way from when I used to work for city schools.

There were hundreds of kids! There would have been even more, but Champs was broken into 4 sessions based on ages. Everyone swimming this time around would be in the 11-12 bracket.

We found our tent quick enough.

Shane got a wristband with his event, heat, and lane numbers on it (and he saw the camera).

We hung out with the group for a little bit before our warm-up group was called.

I think I was the only parent to follow. I wanted to see where things were. Shane ran up front with River, so it's not like I was shadowing him too closely. 

The policy was you could only enter the viewing area up to three heats before your event. 

It was one way. You were supposed to watch your event and then move on!

It wasn't crowded for warm-ups. I got to see the Elks come out with Shane and River leading the way.

There were a total of 17 teams at Champs.

They had some new features like touch pads kids were supposed to hit.

I heard the water was cold.

I wasn't surprised. Can you guess why?

Shane said it was spooky being in a pool 12 ft deep. "No, that's super cool!" was my reply.

I watched a lap. Shane's freestyle breathing is better, but still very exaggerated. He hates to swallow any water and overcompensates. Still, I was hoping the improvements I saw would translate to a faster time. I wanted to have evidence he'd believe when I talked about how proud I was!

I continued down the way and went out the exit. I knew where to go when the swimming got real now.

I wandered in and looked around the building some out of curiosity. I looked at the vending machine, but $5 for a coffee!?!?!? That blew my mind!

I went back to the tent and read on my kindle. I brought a pack of cards, but no one used them. 

Shane did take my pad of paper to draw on. We split my earbuds and listened to On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness for half an hour.

I was surprised he wasn't more chatty with everyone else around. He's been friends with River at practice, but his mood seemed good (Especially when the manager pulled out the leftover candy from the season's snack stand!).

We walked up to the tent ~9:35 AM. Warmups started ~10 AM and the kids got back ~10:20 AM. The meet itself kicked off a little after 11 AM.

It was a lot more crowded inside when I hopped in line to watch!

There was a TV outside and a link online to watch everything. 

But I wanted to watch in person. For one, I wanted to record it. 

Two, I knew it would mean something to Shane. I didn't realize he was scanning for me, but the moment he saw me was apparent.

It did my heart good. I waved my cap at him (I'd worn it to make me easier to spot!).

Shane had a decent start.

He's the topmost swimmer.

He was competitive the whole time! It looked like he was the third to finish in his heat.

The time on the scoreboard looked right for him (Lane 7 - 56.53 seconds). I counted Shane to have taken around 55 seconds when I watched the replay. 

The times changed inexplicably and listed Shane as 1st.

Shane noticed the number 1! He was upset when they told him that was an error.

Shane stomped back to the tent. He made a mad-mad face and told me he'd been robbed! He was going to have to swim backstroke next and he hated backstroke. He didn't want to swim it. Why did he have to do it!?

I confronted the pity party directly. I told him I was so proud! He'd beaten his time from earlier in the year. It was really close, but my video showed him in third. There was no mistake, but he had nothing to be ashamed of either. He improved! As for the backstroke, I told him I'd puked longer than he'd be in the pool (Gross grabs young boy attention like little else!). He did fantastic in the first meet and I told him I was looking forward to seeing him do it again. 

He was still grumpy when he got called back "SO SOON!?!?" He ran off with a sigh, but he looked okay when I spotted him on the bench.

He hadn't left with goggles, so someone loaned him a pair! Shane said it was another coach and she threatened to kill him if he didn't return them (he did!).

Shane really wanted to swim Butterfly, but he would've been DQ'd. He doesn't have it down.

His backstroke is pretty good, on the other hand.

Despite his "hating" it, Shane started in the lead and kept it!

He made the turn and finished ahead of the other swimmers in his heat by a good margin!

Shane bounced to the tent with a heat winner ribbon! He jumped and celebrated while I cheered him on. I don't know the exact time (~1:05), but it was better than before (~1:17)!

Heat ribbons are a good idea. Shane was the fastest in the slowest heat, but he still came out feeling like a winner. It's probably going to be what he remember the most from the day (Though I hope me being there to cheer rates up there, too!).

I got Shane a Kona Ice to celebrate, carb load, and fill some time until his last event.

We had about 40 minutes this time. I remembered to take a picture of the banner the kids made. Shane's hand is in the lower middle.

Shane read a My Hero Academia manga and I read on the kindle to help fill some time. He wasn't really sleeping, but I was able to take a candid picture without him making a face by timing it so!

The last even was a Freestyle Relay. 

I stood at the same place I did for the other two events. It wasn't the best spot, but the camera was a good guidepost to make me easy to find. 

It was Shane, River, Caleb, and another boy I didn't know the name of.

Shane was second in the lineup. Here he is diving off as his teammate comes in.

And here he is again tapping the wall just before his teammate launches.

They were 2nd to last, but Shane came back laughing and in high spirits.

We had to meet Carrie at the Post Office in Nelson to update Shane's passport at 2:30 PM. I bought him some dumplings on our way out! It looked so good, I wished I'd bought myself a set.

It was a really well event overall. I thought they could've used a whiteboard to advertise the event/heat in the big room, but aside from that there were arrows adults looking out to direct kids.

I saw more arrows when we retraced our path. "Is that where you'd come out?" I asked Shane. "Yep!"

I left the meet on an emotional high. "This has turned out to be a wonderful summer," I thought. "I should enjoy the season as long as it lasts." Which is a powerful thought...and poignant when there's a sudden turn around. My prayer is that God empowers me to show love and get through the highs and the lows regardless.

We got to the post office half an hour before Carrie (Hooray for audiobooks to fill time!).

We eventually went inside, because it was a scorcher. Carrie came in flustered and upset. She'd left the CVS photos at home and had been trying to call me for over 12 minutes (It never rang with Shane as my witness - Reception was poor where she was driving). She'd been in Richmond earlier doing tech support for Grandma and talking to her.

The post office gladly took pictures for us ($15 just like CVS). "I don't know why people think they have to buy the photos at CVS or elsewhere before they get here!" The lady said. Duly noted, but I'm not sure I'll remember in 5 years!

So much happened today I'm not likely to ever forget it, but I'm just going to focus on the Champs here. We didn't get home from it until around 3:30 PM and we sent Shane straight off to the shower. I'm really glad that I signed him up for swim team. He said he's not sure if he wants to do it next year, but I'll probably force him based on how it went this year. Eventually, he'll be old enough to work and drive and to decide what he wants to do over the summer, but we're not there yet.