March family update and the next chapter in The Introvert in an Extrovert Church Chronicles

A few years ago I went to this ladies event at my church. We were all seated at tables, and at one point we were asked to share something we're struggling with to the rest of the women at our table. Let me just stop right now and point out that my church is made for extroverts. While the person at the microphone thought she was simply asking us to share something personal to the rest of the group, she might as well have asked me to slice open my arm so that everyone can see the muscles, tendons, and bone. Some of you reading this will think I'm exaggerating. The rest of you know exactly what I mean. Can I get an amen from my fellow introverts??

Then we were asked to share something we're still in the midst of because the tendency is to share something we've already experienced and resolved. Ugh. Forget slicing open my arm, now you're going for my abdomen. Since I had no intention of doing an emotional dissection at a table of women I hardly knew, I did what any other introvert would do. I went to the bathroom. Because, you know, my bladder is my awkward situation hero.

When I came back to my table, share time was still going on and my "friend" called me out on leaving so I came up with some generic parenting problem until we moved out of the segment I like to call "Emotional Torture Time". I almost opted for my nuclear option which was to be brutally honest to the point that everyone regrets asking me the question. I don't think any table could have handled my story at the time, so I, being the benevolent person that I am, went the generic route instead. You're welcome, everyone at my table from two years ago.

Why do I bring this up now? Well, I'm going to this event again tomorrow night. Other than Torture Time, I actually enjoyed the night and got a lot out of it. This time I'm prepared for the sharing is caring segment if it comes up. In fact, I've come up with options of struggles to share depending on my mood tomorrow night.

But for now, here's a rundown for what's been going on in the Dumont family.

• Tommy is eating enormous amounts of food. He's growing again. I'm considering a GoFundMe for his food and clothing allowance.
• Tommy and Charlotte both need braces. Goodbye, tax return.
• Next week is homeschool convention where I will sleep and not parent for a few days. Inner me is weeping with joy at the thought of sleep and independence.
• Jon brought me a cinnamon roll from Panera for breakfast yesterday so he's got preferred husband status this week.
• Matthew is becoming extra critical of all my choices lately. So that's super fun. 
• Matthew should be starting flag football in the next few weeks so you'll find me at the park at least 2 evenings a week for the next few months. 
• Tommy will be the assistant coach for Matthew's team. That's totally going on his transcript.
• Apparently I'm developing allergies. Every year it gets a little worse. That's sad. Sad for me. 
• Good news: I've lost 5lbs! Bad news: I'd gained 10lbs so I'm halfway back to where I was before the holidays. 

And that's it. You are now updated on our family for one more month. The kids are about to start hovering around me waiting for dinner to materialize in front of them so it's time for me to adult again.  Also, I haven't fully proofread this so there's probably mistakes. Maybe that can be one of my shares for tomorrow.