Tag: Kids

Cap and Gown

Harry just came home from graduation practice. I made him try on his cap for me. I told him how proud I am of him and embarrassed the shit out of him. So that’s one thing that has gone right today. He’s decorating his cap now.

I need to get my good camera out of the closet in the office. I think I have used it twice during the pandemic. Tomorrow it has a lot of work to do. I’m going to need the long lens, but it’s going to be so worth it. I don’t even care if the pictures come out or not, I just want him to have those 2.5 seconds on the stage in front of everyone.

He has worked so hard for so long. I am crazy proud!

Heat Wave

We have had two consecutive days with temperatures topping 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The forecast calls for the same for two more days. My step son’s last days of high school are going to fall right into the heat wave. In fact, because of the predicted heat his school has actually announced an early release tomorrow and possibly Tuesday too. So his last days… the days after your finals are over that you still have to go in… the most useless days of your high school career… will be short days.

I ask this of all who have ever graduated from an American high school… how jealous are you? I seem to remember having to go in for one day after my senior finals were over, and I also seem to remember it being the longest day ever. My memory tells me that happened, but it seems like such a silly and useless thing that I wonder if it actually happened? Was my last day actually the day of my last final exam? Now I am confused. Old and confused. What else is new?

Whatever, Harry’s done with finals. All he has to do is go back and sign out of his classes. You know, turn in his books, pick up his cap and gown and the parking passes for his parental units… good stuff like that.

I am so proud of him. I can’t put it into words. I’m too proud to explain. I hope he has the time of his life this week. His last days, then all the senior week stuff, then the actual graduation, then they have one final post-ceremony senior week activity, and then he’s done with high school. Then he is a college kid. No, a college man.

I will say it again, I am so proud of him.

Concert Recap

Yesterday we went to Harry’s final band concert. There were four ensembles and he played with all of them. It was 90 degrees out and the concert took place in the school parking lot. The band director sent out an email with the details last week and somehow Jen and I both failed to read the part about bringing your own chairs. We were there a little early and Jen raced home in record time to get us a couple of chairs. She missed the first couple of Jazz Band songs, but she did not miss Harry’s keyboard solo. There were two keyboard players. On this particular song the other guy used a synthy sound that made things sound like the 70’s. It was a little rough, but he’s an excellent player and he made up for the less than quality patch choice. Harry’s solo was with an electric piano sound and it made me want to run out and buy a vintage Fender Rhodes piano because awesome. Now I understand that a Rhodes is also a very 70’s centric sound, but some 70’s sounds are better than others. Dig?

For the other three ensembles, Harry was in the percussion section. He played almost everything. Mallets, hand percussion, cymbals, and on a couple of pieces he played tympani. He played the shit out of those kettle drums. Let’s just say his step father was very impressed, and insanely proud.

The show closed with the concert band. They had a couple of different teachers/student teachers conducting different pieces. On the second to last song, the band director was inside the building while someone else was conducting. Those of us who were still outside saw the sky getting very ominous. Dark, angry looking clouds. It seemed like we were going to get rained on and it was going to be bad. The band director came outside, looked up, and even though were were on the other side of the parking lot we could see him visibly freak a little. We could almost hear the “oh shit” he was thinking. The song ended and he grabbed the mic and said there was one more piece and it’s about five minutes long and we can probably squeeze it in before the sky falls. The DarkSky app had just told me the rain was about eight minutes out. Go for it, dude! They finished the number before the rain hit and had just enough time for the kids to get their stuff back inside and for the audience to scatter. It was almost as if they planned it that way.

I loved every second of the whole thing, and Harry was totally beat when he got home. Not only did he play in all four ensembles, but prior to the high school concert there was a middle school concert and he filled in for a missing kid for part of that as well. The dude worked his ass off in the scorching heat. If anyone had earned themselves a good night’s sleep, it was Harry.

As with most things right now I am conflicted. On the one hand I am proud and happy and impressed at Harry’s hard work and excellent performance. On the other I am sad that it’s the last one. I’m going to say this a lot in the coming weeks, but Covid-19 seriously screwed him out of so many things. I am glad the school was able to sneak this one in at the last minute so that his final band concert didn’t turn out to be a Christmas concert in his Junior year. He’s missed out on a lot of things in the last year and a half. We have to find a way to make it up to him.

Thinking About Tomorrow

I have not played the guitar in a while now. It’s the weekend so you’d think I would be in the clear, but there’s a lot of stuff to do.

The grass in front of the house is getting long. The grass in the back and on the side have yet to be mowed at all this year. I’m super tall, six and a half feet tall or so, and I am literally scared to go into the back yard because the grass is so tall I am afraid I’ll get lost*. Seriously. That’s how badly it needs to be mowed. The weather looks clear, though slightly on the scorching hot, inferno, hell fire side of the temperature gauge.

More important, in the afternoon we have a high school band concert. The final high school band concert. I didn’t think we were going to get one, thanks covid, but we are. It’s going to be outside in the parking lot and my step son is playing with every single ensemble. Piano in some parts, and percussion in others. He’s awesome, the concert is going to be awesome, it is also going to be held in the parking lot because of covid in the scorching inferno hell fire temps, but it’s all kinds of awesome.

If I can sneak some guitar time in, I will. I’m not holding my breath though.

On an unrelated note, I got a notification on my laptop to reboot for a Mac OS update. I cancelled the notification because it was in the way of a window I was trying to use, but once I was done I rebooted my computer. When the computer came back up I was prompted to take a Mac OS update. What is this, Windows?

*When I said I was literally afraid to go into the back yard because I would get lost in the tall grass, I was not being literally. Allow me to stand here and watch your brain explode. Boom, babie.

Another unrelated note, I think the V key on my ancient apple keyboard is dying. Uh oh.

Wednesday Lunch Break

Lots of great stuff coming up for my step son, Harry. This weekend he will have his final High School band concert. Covid-19 is pushing the performance outside and there hasn’t been the usual time for rehearsing with the full ensembles, but it should still be a pretty sweet deal. I’m going to love it and I am sure he’s going to enjoy his last hurrah.

After that it’s his last week of school, and we all know what follows your last week of school… Graduation, babie! Thanks to Covid-19 (again) there are a limited number of seats available for the ceremony. We snagged four tickets. They also only provide one parking pass per kid… almost as if divorced parents weren’t a thing. The calendar says it’s 2021 but apparently in this particular town it’s actually 1920. He had to ask the school to give him two passes. The school agreed. Thanks, school.

Covid-19 has ruined all plans for a graduation party, which sucks. It has also ruined all plans for a Disney World trip/graduation present. We need to come up with post-pandemic replacements. I’m not sure what that will be at this point, but there will be something. He’s worked his ass off for 12 years to get to this point and he deserves something beyond just recognition.

Until we get all of that figured out, we will just have to shower him with well deserved praise. I don’t have the words to express how proud I am of my step son. He has grown into a wonderful person and he has accomplished so much. I see fantastic things in his future and I can’t wait for him to get there.

Good work, Harry.

Home

Bellana is all moved in. Her dad is bringing a few things up next weekend, but for now she’s there and most of her stuff is there and her roommates are there and everything is good. She has a new apartment, now she needs to transform it into a home.

Jen and I left Burlington around 4:00pm, maybe more like 5:00? I’m not sure. We chose to take the scenic route home which somehow led us to NH route 9 which is so winding that I’m sure we drove in a spiral at least twice, and it’s so badly lit (just some reflectors on one side and some reflective yellow paint) that I’m positive we were underground for at least 15 of the 40 miles.

We are home now. We are exhausted, proud, excited to see what comes next, but still a smidge sad.

Congratulations, Bellana.

Now it’s time to shift our focus to Harry who is graduating from high school in less than two weeks. I’m so proud I might pop like an over-proud balloon!

And So it Begins

The plan for today is for Jen and Bellana to leave first in Bellana’s car, and then I leave about an hour or so later in my car. They have stuff on the roof and are planning on driving slow. If I leave an hour later there’s a good chance I will pass them. I kinda don’t want to do that. I want Bellana to be there when I get there.

The cars were mostly packed last night. This morning we packed up the last few things, clothes and pillows and stuff she was using last night, and just a few minutes ago they pulled out of the driveway.

I am forcing myself to remember that I am only focusing on the happy thoughts today, and not letting the empty nest-ish blues take over. That’s my personal plan at least… and it’s already proving to be very difficult.

No… this is a good day. This is a good experience. She is happy, so I am happy. This is a good thing.

Pre Game

Is everyone psyched up for the Bruins game #2 with the Islanders tonight? The NHL iOS app says that game time is 7:30pm so… 7:50ish maybe? I’m not sure how much, if any, of the game I’m going to be able to catch tonight, but guaranteed I’ll be keeping an eye on things.

I’m wearing one of my Bruins t-shirts. I wore it on the last two game days (yes, I washed it, sheesh) and they won both games. I’m not sure if that qualifies it as a “good luck shirt” but I ain’t taking any chances. I also haven’t shaved since before game five of the first round series. I don’t know if the idea of a playoff beard being good luck extends beyond the locker room, but why take the chance? Granted, there is no way in hell that I’ll keep the fascial hair as far out as game three. It’s doubtful that I’ll shave first thing in the morning tomorrow, but it’s also very likely that I will shave at some point tomorrow. The itchy… it’s just starting to drive me nuts. I’ll fight the urge tonight, purely in the interest of hanging on to the home ice advantage, but after that the team is very much on its own.

The plan tonight is to get out of Mom’s and get home as fast as humanly possible, thought I may not have enough gas to get there. We’ll have to see. Then once I am home we spark up the grill and sneak a Memorial Day cookout in at the last minute. Sunset is 8:15 and I don’t think it’s raining anymore. After that it’s time to start loading up the Mazda for the drive up and over to Vermont tomorrow. Tentatively, Jen will go up with Bellana in Bellana’s car, and I will follow by myself. Once we’re up there and the car is unloaded, we’ll head over to Target (the nearest big store) and pick up some last minute apartment supplies. When that’s all set Jen and I will head home together and I will see my depression level increase from “alarmingly depressed” to “fuck it, I’m not getting out of bed depressed.”

Go back to all of my posts from August 2019. Bellana going away to college messed me up. This is effectively the same scenario, but for some reason it is soooo much worse this time. I think part of it is just the word “apartment.” It’s an “apartment” instead of a “dorm room” and that makes a world of difference. The other part is that August 2019 will be literally repeated in August 2021 when Harry goes away to school. That’s not a partially empty nest, that’s the full boat.

Don’t get me wrong, I am prouder of both of them than I could ever express. I love them so much. I can’t imagine any parent loving their kids as much as I love my step kids, mostly because I love them so much I feel like I could explode and I can’t fathom someone actually surviving while feeling something more than that. I want the best for them, I want them to have it all, I want them to succeed, I want them to have the time of their lives in the prime of their lives. There’s just a part of me that selfishly wants them to stay home with us forever, that’s all.

Okay, calm down. It’s going to be okay, Rob. It’s going to be all right. Let’s just distract ourselves from the near future by watching the Red Sox. They are losing 4-0 to the Astros. Hey look, both teams that cheated their way to a recent world series are playing each other. Hardy har har. If the Red Sox lose today, does that mean that cosmically there is space available for the Bruins to win? The universe is so screwy.

Nana Sitting – One Day Early

Tomorrow night was supposed to be my next Nana Sitting night, but my brother and I swapped so I could go to Vermont on Tuesday and he could go to his daughter’s soccer games near the Cape tomorrow. I got here about 6:40 and my mother was asleep. My sister woke her up to say goodbye and she immediately fell back to sleep. She woke up as I was walking into her room to give her the 8:00pm meds. She’s heating up some leftovers for dinner now. I have a feeling it’s going to be a late night, but hopefully it’s a late night with manageable pain levels. Fingers crossed.

I watched the third period of the Lightning/Hurricanes game. As expected, Tampa Bay won. The Avalanche/Golden Knights game just started and the Avs are already up 1-0. As expected.

We had a very nice low key anniversary today. We went to a bakery in Windham that the kids clued us in to and picked up our anniversary cake. Then we just went for a drive. It was lovely. It dawned on me that as I am now 50 years old, driving around to nowhere on a Sunday morning officially makes me a “Sunday Driver”. I joked about trying to find a Bennigans or a Waffle House and Jen joked back that we should go to Cracker Barrel. Getting old sucks, but if you can’t crack wise at your own expense, what good is it?

The Avalanche just scored again. 2-0, halfway through the first.

When we got home the kids came over for an hour or so. We ate the fantastic cake and just spent some quality family time. It was awesome. Unfortunately, I think that’s the last time the four of us will be together before Bellana moves into her apartment in Vermont. We’ll see her tomorrow, but Harry won’t be there. If I stop and think about that, it’s painful. Instead I am choosing not to think about it. I’m choosing to focus on today.

Now I’m here at my mother’s house and I am missing my bride like crazy.

I love you, Jen.