Tag: Step Kids

Getting Close

We are about two hours away from the start of the graduation ceremony. Can you feel the excitement building? I can!

Harry is already there, of course. Bellana is on her way. We only have two parking passes between the two houses and I think the plan is to pile about 30 people into the two cars. It’s going to be a drive in movie in the 50’s where they hide people in the trunk.

We’re making a quick dinner right now. We’ll maybe have something more substantial when we get home. For now though let it be stated that I just used an Air Fryer for the first time. Look at me, all hipster like.

One hour and forty minutes to go!

WOOHOO!!

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.

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.