1.  I had a Plan: do prep work at home so lake life would be easier, food-wise. Baking? Check. Make dip? Check. Create lists out the wazoo so I remember all the things? Check check.

2.  Fast forward to Friday. We’re ten minutes from our destination when I realize the brownies and muffins are still at home, tucked away safely from Gracie’s prying snout. And my packing skills. Plus the guacamole. Also the homemade dip. And the gluten free chips. For.The.Love.

3.  So I’m sitting at the table Saturday morning when Bear plops into the chair next to me and announces she had a “really weird” dream.

“There were people with guns at school. They were North Koreans and they came in shooting. So then they gave us all guns and we were running around trying not to get shot.”

Lawd, y’all.

Sometimes my kids catch me so off guard I fumble the parenting ball. I’d blame it on not-enough-coffee, but really…guns? North Koreans? School? My brain shorted out.

4.  We circled back around to it that afternoon. At first Bear tried to blow it off as just another dream, but we talked about how dreams are the way we work through things on our mind and it clicked. It seems our 12-year-old worries about a nuclear showdown with North Koreans and, less surprising, someone shooting up her school.

5.  It’s tough to admit I have none of the words. To share with Bear what I tell myself when I’m worried Trump’s a breath away from driving us off a cliff, but that in the end there’s no crystal ball and I don’t know what’s going to happen. To acknowledge that yes, the majority of families in her school own guns and yes, they teach their kids to shoot and…the end. There are no tied-up-with-a-pretty-ribbon promises that “it won’t happen at your school” because no one can say that anymore. How am I supposed to help her sit with that threat?

6.  Lest you think the weekend was all doom and gloom, fear not! There was good food (even without all the stuff I forgot) and late nights and a popcorn filled Mama Mia! viewing. Plus a pool tournament. Can’t forget the pool tournament.

7.  And the deer. And the heron. And the cardinals that came every morning.

8.  But my brain wouldn’t be mine if it didn’t shift into high gear sometime on Sunday, crunching upcoming obligations and making mental to do lists. I’m just stubborn enough to refuse to put those lists on paper, though, which means I’ll spend the next week trying to remember that thing I’m forgetting to do. Bless.

9.  I have officially become my mother now that I find an inordinate amount of pleasure in cooking yummy food for other people. Because who doesn’t love taco meat and mojo shredded chicken and zucchini fries (even without the dip). Amen.

10.  The kennel is closed so we have another night before we can pick up the fur babies. This means sadness because no dog snuggles today. On the upside it does give Gracie’s bed another 24 hours to dry since I had to hose dog vomit off it right before leaving town on Friday. Turns out half a tube of mascara didn’t settle so well on our Gracie girl’s stomach. Sheesh.