Very busy weekend.

On Friday there was a half day of school. Bill had wrestling pracrice after school, and I went to pick him up. We then headed into Ann Arbor so he could take his state road test. He passed with flying colors, so then we went to the Secretary of State's office, to turn in the paperwork so he could get his license. The lines were endless, as they usually are at such places. We eventually got out of there and went to the one post office in the area that accepts applications for passports. The line there was endless as well. They had a big sign up that said they cut off passport applications at 4PM -- and we made it to the front of the line with about five minutes to go!! But we got his picture taken, and the application turned in. It was difficult finding a time to do that, between school and wrestling, and with him having to apply in person. But since the school trip to Europe won't be taking place until June, there should be plenty of time to straighten out any problems, if any should happen.

Friday evening Dan and I went out on a date. We went to a restaurant in Ann Arbor called The Earle, that I have wanted to go to for many years. It serves southern French and northern Italian food, in a very romantic setting, and they have live jazz there some nights. Well, the food turned out to be fantastic, the restaurant was very romantic, and a jazz trio played for some of the time we were eating. It was a very enjoyable evening!!! Since Friday was the one year mark of my father's death, I am so glad, so grateful to have a good memory to add to the terrible one!!!

Saturday Bill had a wrestling tournament -- one that was close by for a nice change of pace. It was up in Canton, at the new high school there (that school district has three huge high schools now). The team did fairly well, and so did Billy. I like the way the new coach allowed the varsity kids to have a break in one of the rounds if there was a junior varsity kid at his/her weight. It gave the freshmen a chance to have a match, and let the more experienced kids get a bit of a breather. With team tournaments, there can be a lot of matches in one day! Even with sitting out one of the rounds, Bill had four matches, and two of them were really tough ones. They say that the six minutes of a tough match can be among the most intense you can live through, and while I think that is somewhat exaggerated (the person who originally said that had probably not given birth), there is also a kernal of truth in that.

Today we woke up to another unpredicted and unexpected snowfall. Dan and Stevie set out for Montrose for a middle school team tournament. I stayed at home, as I will be working tonight. Bill also stayed home, as he has a bad cough today, and we wanted him to relax and rest.

Tomorrow, they were going to try to make up the big tournament that had been cancelled a couple of weeks ago. But they cannot, as the state athletic rules say that a wrestler cannot have anymore than two matches on a day/night before school. This is to protect the kids from being exhausted and not be able to function well on the following school day. So there will now be no tournamant, though there will still be practice. So I will get to have a quiet day with my family after all.

I am glad to have the day off tomorrow, with nothing taxing to do other than house work. Last week we had a lot of call-ins at work, so I am pretty tired even after having two days off. I don't mind when people call in -- in fact, I would rather they call in if they are unwell than come into work and infect everyone else -- and I certainly call in myself when I am sick -- but it can be tiring for those who work shorthanded. Having tomorrow off will be quite nice!!!