we did have fun skiing yesterday!  after skiing yesterday, we drove up to biff's boarding school.....we had tentative plans to see friends there.  michael is a hockey coach and teacher for another school in connecticut...his school was playing biff's alma mater....hockey.....he wife and kids were going to possibly, maybe, thinking about meeting us there.....for fun, just to meet on biff's old turf.

we were so close we decided to drive up. we stopped into the hockey rink, a beautiful new building, to look for michael and the rest of the family...who thought they might, maybe, possibly be there.

i stopped a nice guy who had all of the school colors on his jacket, hat...i thought he might be a coach for the other team...perhaps he would know michael.  hmmmmm.  he had to think. nope.  he didn't.  oh, wait, he knew "mike"! i thought since it was a small school, it would be kind of easy for another coach.  nope.  he was a dad there to watch his son.  this was varsity, michael was coaching j.v. back at his school.  yes they were playing biff's alma mater too.

this nice guy had a son going to boarding school.  he had a son on the varsity team.  he was on his alumni board for the school......oh my gosh!  he might have been my age!  he might have been younger!  it shocked me to realize this.

not only did that shock me, but when i went to buy some snacks to support the crew team's trip to henley......biff did crew and loved it so much...crew team made a difference in his life....when i went up to the snacks with the crew team selling....once again, i was shocked to realize that i could be the mom to one of these kids!  not that i thought they were my children!  i just forget that i'm that old! 

meanwhile, biff was showing different plaques and pictures to our kids.  we caught a bit of their basketball game.  we walked around the gorgeous campus.  we stopped in to see the main offices...some kids eating dinner...some artwork....some notices of upcoming events.

grace and t.j. were having fun with biff as he stopped to tell them stories about when he was living there.  they were all laughing and enjoying his reminiscing.  they were amazed to think that we had no computers or ipods or cell phones.  the first thing grace noticed as we approached the school was that there was spotty cell coverage!

we looked at the new buildings, biff showed the kids where he lived, told about the traditions that he enjoyed and they were loving their time with him.  they always do...but, we had all made a comeback since our morning and it was so great to have it back....the fanu family who enjoyed each other!  and laughed rather than called names and rolled eyes!

we left as it got dark and began our drive home.  that's when michael and family called and texted us that they were down at the school where they live.

it was kind of , maybe, sort of, possibly on our way home through connecticut....so, of course we attempted to meet them....even though they live the intense life of hockey parents....and they were between games.....maybe we could meet them on our way down....at the rink....in the other town.....with one of their kid's home sick and one playing hockey.

suddenly, game over.  we were too hungry and the kids wanted to see the kids.

we practically passed them on the road en route to their hockey game.  the great news was that we happened upon a bertucci's.  the carbs were calling!

it was between bites of dinner that t.j. asked about baording school.  would he be able to get in to biff's alma mater?  boarding school?  and today he's asking more questions.  wonderful yes...heartbreaking yes.  last year grace went through the same phase.  it's easy to love when you're there taking it all in.  there is so much available to the students.....i want to encourage our kids to do their best.....we have excellent schools here...that's why we moved here.  i want to shout. "no, don't leave us!"  who knows.  we'll always try to do what's best for them.....i'm glad he feels safe enough to leave us...that's healthy....i was feeling the same with grace......i'm glad she let go of the idea.....and selfishly, i'm hoping the same for t.j.!