Summer is here…and with this brings 3 boys telling me how board they are….usually…but not this year. Little Korey, our 13 year old has started working. He works down the road at Kirby’s Farm Market. He has wanted to work there since he was 12, but he didn’t get down there in time. So, this year, we started earlier in the job attempt. Little Korey must have gone down to Kirby’s at least 6 times checking in on his application. He spoke to the younger Kirby son, who now runs the farm, and told him of the weeks that he needed off for NYLT Camp and Camp Massiwappi, both Boy Scout camps. (He was selected for the NYLY (New York Leadership Training) camp by his troops Scoutmaster.) He also told him that he could not work on Sundays; he attends Church with his family. The Kirby’s were impressed with little Korey, and his persistence with wanting to work there, and he finally was told to come down the following Saturday. Korey’s face was beaming when we walked out of the Market, coming towards the car. He was emotional by the time he got to the door, and he said he got the job, and had tears filling his eyes, we both left there with tears of joy….I was so proud of him, my heart swelled with pride. He said he didn’t know why he was crying he was just so excited to tell his dad and grandparents. We got home and called Grandma and Grandpa Donoghue and told them of his exciting news, and that he was excited for them to come and visit….they told him how proud they were too and excited to see him in a couple of weeks. He wanted to wait till his dad got home from work to share his good news. We were all so very proud of him!
Saturday came, and so did much rain…..I brought little Korey to work his first day, with a packed lunch with a note inside…another young man, 17 years old, took little Korey under his wing to show him the ropes. They were the first ones there. My poor baby came home all wet and muddy for the first full week of work, never complaining once….even coming home to do more service for an elderly family from Church….he really never made me more proud than that week.
The next week he was off to NYLT camp, this was hard for me, I had to leave him for a week off with a bunch of strangers….his dad always went to Scout camp with him, but this one was to teach these boys to be leaders on their own. And the day before lil Korey left, he found out that he was selected to by his Troops SPL, or Senior Patrol Leader. He was really going to put into place what he had learned at NYLT in his own Troop.
Back to work the next week after camp…..another week full of rain and muddy days….he said it is not too bad until the boxers get wet….wow, he is made of something here I thought. He is a tough guy! He showed me his hands, stained from hours of weeding…he said, “Mom, I washed my hands so many times and they won’t come clean! I am going to have hands like Grandpa!” I told him those were hands of a hard working man!
After this week, it was another week of Scout camp, this time his was “safe” with his dad….he had a tough time this year, none of his “friends” that he usually hung with were attending camp. He worked hard on his Merit badges, and his dad let him participate in COPE training, which is specifically for those over 14….but his dad felt sorry for him and signed him up anyway, and Korey LOVED it! He got to zip line from rope high above the ground. They did team building, and this helped him have a better time at camp. Korey came home with 4 merit badges signed off on, and another 2 that he worked on with the Church’s troop, a summer of hard work and 6 merit badges, have him well on his way to earning his Eagle by the time he is 16! More bragging by mom….sorry!
His first Check came while he was at his first camp….and he came home proud as a peacock with a check from work….$291 for one week of work. He told me he was taking me out to dinner, and I couldn’t tell him no, because he had it planned since he got the job. I could hardly believe his pay amount, I remember breaking the $200 mark, and I was NOT 13!
This may seem like a blog for Korey, but it is not….he is older and I have less time with him, in 4 years he will be on his way to college…..he is reaching different milestones than the other boys…..on to the next.
Jordan took swim this summer; he had 4 weeks of swimming, just in time, getting the cast off his arm 3 days before swim was to start. Jordan loved swimming, and is great at it. We are thinking of having him join the Seas swim team, the same team his cousin swam with.
Jordan had a Cub Scout family camp this last week. This meant I had to go camping. Now, I HATE camping, but I was able to stay in a cabin, and I survived. Jordan found and "produced" skits for the Cub's to preform for us at camp, as part of a requirement. He loves anything with acting, so this was right up his alley.
Big Korey found a boat that we were able to rent, and that made the weekend a blast. He came up to the camp and got Lori and I and said, “Let’s go, I got a boat, and we are going tubing!” So we left and had a blast with all the kids that we took!
Jacob is just the little one going with the flow….nothing really exciting for him, except that this was the first time going tubing. Paul DeGraff took him on the tube the first time, and he LOVED it….when I went on it with him, we ended up falling off, and in the split moment that he went under, all I could think of was to grab him before he sank….I KNEW he had a life vest on, but this is what my mind did in that moment, and I grabbed his jacked, pulled him into my arm and held on to the tube with the other. Now, he was crying and scared…heck I was scared for him at that one moment….but we told him he needed to get back on and try it again, and he did and loved it all over again…..giving the thumbs up to his dad when he wanted to go faster or the thumbs down if he wanted to go slower….he was a professional tuber by the time we got off.
Thanks to Big Korey, he really made that Cub Scout weekend a fun memory! He knows how to have fun, not always the way I would want but he can show everyone a good time!
I also had my high school reunion that me and a few others organized....it was GREAT fun in the planning and the actual reunion was a blast! I had a great time with this crew and look forward to doing more reunions together! We had so many people tell us what a great time it was! That was the reward all in itself!
There were a few more people that helped, they were not around for this photo op!
Me and Korey...(it was hot in there, so my hair is a little flat...lol)
Summer is not over yet…..and the summer temps have just begun, we will see how much more we can cram into a few short weeks before school starts and Lil Korey will be in 9th grade, Jordan will be a 5th grader….and Jacob will be home one more year with me. Looking forward to September in a way....
