Tag: Step Kids

That was a Rough Week

I’m still not ready to write about the reason behind all of the insanity last week. It’s not really my story to tell. Suffice to say I drove about 100000000 miles over the last 10 days or so.

First, I was off on Friday May 1st. That day we learned that my step son’s girlfriend had an issue that needed immediate attention. She goes to school in Burlington, VT but her family lives near Detroit, MI. On Saturday May 2nd my wife and I drove from Methuen, MA to Burlington (about three hours) to pick up both kids and drive them back to our house. 

On Sunday May 3rd I drove them both to Logan Airport in Boston (about 40–50 minutes or so) so she could catch a flight to Michigan. Then immediately I drove my step son back to Burlington (3.5 hours or so) and after dropping him off at his apartment I drove straight home (three hours).

On Monday May 4th I went to work, then on Tuesday May 5th I had the day off. I was supposed to be taking my wife to a doctors appointment but that fell through. I was also supposed to pick up my step daughter at Logan Airport. She was on a trip to California. Turns out her flight didn’t land until 10:00pm so it wouldn’t have interfered with work. It did mean I didn’t get home until super late which made Wednesday morning rough.

On Wednesday May 6th I worked from home and as soon as I punched out for the day my wife and I jumped in the car and drove to Burlington, VT again. We picked up my step son and then drove further North, crossing the border into Quebec. We immediately went to a hotel and went to sleep. 

On Thursday May 7th we did some major driving. We drove all the way to Lapeer, MI. It was about 9–10 hours. Almost all of it on highways in Canada. When we arrived we brought my step son to where his girlfriend was and my wife and I got to meet some of her family. Most notably, we got to meet her 18 month old niece who was absolutely adorable. After that we went back to the hotel and crashed.

On Friday May 8th we spent almost the entire day just being there for the kids as they went through everything the family needed to get through. My wife and I were distantly on the periphery, but my step son was more involved. In the late afternoon my wife and I excused ourselves for a while. We drove about an hour North in the hopes of seeing a Great Lake (Huron) up close but when we got to the spot we were looking for you couldn’t actually see the lake. You could see little canals running into it, but not the lake itself. We did catch a glimpse from the highway at one point though. That will have to do.

Saturday May 9th was the super crazy day that just sucked the life right out of all of us. We drove home. We crossed into Ontario again and then headed East. We crossed back into the US at Niagara, NY and from there drove home to Methuen. I think it was about 11 hours on the road. We were toast.

On Sunday May 10th my step daughter cooked a Mothers Day brunch for my wife, which was lovely, and we all just decompressed a little from the insanity of the week. Eventually we drove my step son to a bus stop in Manchester, NH (about half an hour away) and he took that home to Burlington. I went grocery shopping and then proceeded to flake out for the rest of the day. I needed the rest.

Now it is Monday May 11th and I am in the office (an hour drive from home) and it’s not even 11:00am and I am already pretty desperate to go home and go back to sleep. What a crazy week. Just… wow.

Cross the Border

That’s it. I’m leaving the country tonight. Just you wait and see. When I go to sleep tonight I will not be in the United States of America.

That sounds super dramatic but let me assure you it is not. It’s true, but it’s not what it seems. It’s not some politically motivated emigration. It’s more like it gets me where I am going.

My step son’s girlfriend is from Michigan, near(ish) to Detroit. Her family is going through some stuff right now (no, it’s none of your business) and my step son, my wife, and I are heading there to show a little moral support (no I am not sharing specifics. As previously stated, it’s none of your business). 

My step son and his girlfriend are both students at schools in Burlington, VT. The best highway route involves first driving North across the Canadian border into Quebec, and then driving Southwest past a couple of Great Lakes and recrossing the border into Michigan. Staying in the US involves detouring around those Great Lakes which adds hours to the trip. 

So the plan tonight is to punch out of work (about 15 minutes from now), load up the car, drive to Burlington to pick up Harry, then drive to a hotel just across the border. Then tomorrow at the crack of dawn start heading around those big lakes. On Saturday we will repeat the route in reverse.

Given the situation in the fascist states of america right now though… leaving Canada is going to be tough. There are a lot of reasons not to leave once you’re there, you know? I’ll do it, but it will be tough, that’s all I’m saying.

Traveling Folk

My step daughter is at Logan airport. She’s taking a birthday trip out west and I hope she has a great time. Also, me being me, I am worried about her flight. You know how it is, right?

My wife and I are heading to Vermont to help my step son and his girlfriend out with some difficulties. This weekend I will drive from Methuen, MA to Burlington, VT and then from Methuen, MA to Boston, MA to Burlington, VT to Methuen, MA.

Wish us traveling folk some luck, m’kay? Thanks.

Stuff

I looked at my work schedule for the next two days and… Holy shit, I don’t have a single moment without a meeting booked over the next two days. It is going to suck tomorrow and then I’m going to go back on Thursday and it is going to suck then as well. Damn it.

In other news, my step daughter just did something awesome and it is awesome. Things are crazy exciting. Crazy!

She’s Home

My step daughter is home from her academic trip to Europe!

I think the pilot on her flight from Dublin to Boston must have had a date or something. Either that or he has the airplane equivalent of a lead foot. The plane landed over an hour early. How sick is that? Thanks, speedy pilot!

Substack

Right folks, what are our thoughts on Substack? I subscribe to a handful of them but I only ever actually read stuff from the guitar player who used to be in The Blake Babies (and I’m just thinking that it is really getting to be time for another Blake Babies reunion record, don’t we think?) and one film photographer from youtube who lives somewhere in the wilds of New Hampshire. Truthfully, I don’t read every post from those two users but I read some of them. Sorry.

My first thought when I learned about Substack was nope, I’m too old for that shit. The Blake Babies guy is older than I am though… he’s also 100 times cooler and a lawyer (yikes) and his cred level is 100000000 times mine… though any number that quantifies your credibility is higher than my complete and total lack of credibility, right?

My second thought was… it’s an email newsletter. Anyone who would be dumb enough to subscribe to mine would mark me as spam within a couple of days of my pointless brain droppings.

Still… am I thinking about it? No… but… yeah, no.

What else, what else… new camera coming soon. The USPS tracking number says it will arrive on Saturday. That doesn’t give me any time to shoot and develop a test roll before I go on vacation, but I had already decided not to bring a film camera on vacation this time. I’m going all digital on this trip.

Part of my initial film camera attraction was using fully manual, mechanical cameras. I didn’t want any automation at all. I didn’t want anything electronic. This time? The new camera has autofocus. Oh praise be, it has autofocus! I’m getting blinder by the minute and manually focusing is a bitch. Wearing bifocals (well, progressive lenses) makes it so much worse. Now I am going to be able to autofocus with film and oh how the heavens will sing in gleeful glee.

What else? This is traditionally the longest week of the working man’s life. The full work week before a vacation. One day down, four endlessly long and painful days to go. But hey, there’s a new camera and a vacation at the end of it! There’s two carrots on the end of this week’s stick. The best part? Both kids are coming on this trip. We’re going as a full family. How cool is that? Both kids are in their 20’s and we can still get them to come on vacation with us. Life is pretty fucking cool sometimes, don’t you think?

I should join Substack and write a big article about it.

Travel Plans and Parental Controls

Bellana came home late last night. Late enough that I was asleep. I woke up at 4:00am for some reason and checked the driveway and her car was there. Wonderful! My step daughter is home!

By 8:30am though we had dropped her off at the airport. She’s flying to Denver, meeting a friend, and then driving back to somewhere in North Carolina. From there she’s going to Atlanta and flying to Orlando where she will meet up with the rest of us for our Disney trip the week after next.

That’s a lot of traveling!

Her flight hasn’t boarded yet, but according to flightaware.com it is still on time. Safe travels, Bellana! We love you!

On an unrelated note, I think I need to set up parental controls on my computer. I think I need to block ebay. Yeah… I bought another camera last night. What the fuck, Robert? This one is a 35mm with autofocus. It has a 50mm lens too. Bonus! I still don’t think I will take any film on our vacation, but it is pretty clear my self imposed two month film hiatus isn’t going to last more than a few days. Oh well. I tried.

While we’re on the subject of film, I got a notification from the lab I sent the last batch of film to that it arrived. That was Thursday afternoon. I was hope hope hoping that I would receive word that the scans were available yesterday but I gots nuttin’. I doubt they’ll be working over the weekend, so hopefully early next week we’ll have the results. I’m optimistic that the five medium format rolls come out okay. Four of them might at least. One of them might be a smidge under exposed. I had the light meter app on my phone set wrong during one roll. Dumb ass. Everything else (hopefully) was free of user errors or dumb ass fuck ups. Fingers crossed.

Back to Normal

The cats were very displeased with us when we got home last night. They hid for a while before coming into the room with us but keeping their distance. By morning they were being super affectionate again. Actually, they seemed more affectionate than usual. Maybe they were just starved for attention. Two days without humans constantly baby talking to them must have seemed like an eternity.

Jen and I are both back to work. We’re both really tired. We were so busy this weekend that it feels like we need a weekend to recover from our weekend. I won’t be getting one though. This week at work has the potential to be pretty rough. Here’s hoping the universe takes it easy on little old me.

We have to put a pause on the celebration of my step son Harry for a day. Today is my step daughter Bellana’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Bellana! WOOHOOO!! A couple of weeks ago I was sad because I had a birthday that moved me from my early 50’s squarely and undeniably into my mid 50’s. Today sees a similar (though less depressing) thing for Bellana. She moves from her early 20’s squarely and undeniably into her mid 20’s. The poor thing. The poor, still very young, thing. Heh, sorry.

Apart from the birthday celebration everything is back to normal. I even looked at the long range weather forecast and as expected, it calls for rain next weekend. Of course.