I’ve been offline for a few days. Lost time I guess. Oh, just to clarify, offline means the brain was disconnected and was not able to generate prose for this space of the quality that I like to provide.
I’m not going to write it off to “writers block”, that’s to easy, I’m going to suggest that I simply got derailed for a few days. Priorities at work, home et al have sort of taken up my attention. Doesn’t help that there just hasn’t been a lot going to write about.
You’d think there would be with the return of Mrs S from 3 weeks in California. The news from Cali continues to get better and better, a huge sigh of relief for the family and yet another example of the my father-in-laws fighting spirit and, in some ways, stubbornness.
If I had half of his get’r done approach I’d never miss a day on this site. Matter of fact I’d make my living writing in some capacity. But alas, I prefer to keep the bill collectors far away rather than take a risk at something as uh.. well as risky as actually trying make a go on my own talents in the creative space.
This week summer starts realize it’s own mortality as the weeks and weeks of happy go lucky carefree living are starting to come to a quick end.The kids are out getting fitted with their school bits, which by next week will have the reigns of academic achievement attached to them. In a couple weeks from now it’s goign to get really quiet around here.
This morning Mrs S accompanied our eldest back to the wilds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where on Monday he starts his junior year and at Michigan Technological University. Even harder for me get my head around for some reason, middle kid starting his senior year in High School. Poor middle kid. I have to go out and take some pictures of him for his Senior Picture. We Sank’s are bad. When the eldest achieved seniorhood, a good friend of mine met us at the MPLS sculpture gardens and shot some stills of the lad. We picked one and sent it in for his picture.
We never printed another one. Listening to other parents talk about spending a couple G’s on photogs and outfits and settings and all that crap, I feel kinda bad that we didn’t spend a nickel. Or frankly, have any plans to spend more than a nickel on the middle kid. Matter of fact, since he’s the middle kid and we’ve been through this already, maybe we’ll just send off his eight grade picture, the last time he sat for a photo. Or send in his brothers picture and change the name.
Remember who you’re dealing with here, we are didn’t have a photographer capture any of the kids Bar/Bat Mitzvahs or anything else, and our only family portrait, only has two kids in it, because that’s all we had in 1995 when we had it taken.
Where was I going with this?
I have 5 months now to talk the kid out of a grad party and I’m doing my very best. With the oldest this wasn’t even an issue. He didn’t want one. This kid however, a bit more social than his older introverted brother. He might actually request one so the offer had better be a good one if I have any chance of turning his head. (BTW, daughter no f’n chance at all, she might even break the family streak and go to prom damn it)
Here it is- “If you agree to not having a social observance of your High School Graduation, I will take you to two Premier League games in the UK. (double end a weekend or do a Saturday/Sunday thing) If you agree to be nice, I’ll make sure we the Mighty Wolves. And, if you agree, NOT TO GO TO PROM, I’ll make it a week when the Champions League is playing in England and we can slip in one of those games on a Wednesday night.”
I would jump all over that. Seriously. It’s such a win win, he wins, I win (trip to England after all) who wouldn’t jump all over that, especially a big soccer head like he his.
Turns out, he isn’t exactly jumping on the bait. I can see the offer is causing serious dissidence in his head, he wants to say “yes” or “no”, can’t quite figure out which one but he wants to do one. Even when Mrs S go wind of the Prom bribe, for which I earned a serious rebuke (she really wants to stand outside the venue with all the other parents when the little couples go walking past, throwing confetti or what ever, an activity I can even imagine as being anything but completely and utterly LAME. Buy that’s just me) even when she pulled that bribe off the table and said no, he still couldn’t answer.
This will be a developing story I’m afraid.
I am so with you on the senior picture thing. Sorry, professional photographers. But I, too, am amazed at the big to-do about outfits and settings and the sheer volume of photographs that most parents have taken for “the senior picture.” We are on child #3 now, the last one, and I bet if I didn’t mention senior photos, he would not even think of me doing his senior photos.
As for the grad party, by the third one, we have it nailed down and I kept notes, so we should be good to go with that.
The problem is getting our senior to consider colleges. He has his eyes turned toward MIT and other such colleges. He’s got the brains and test scores. Now all we need is the money. Oh, the money.
Good luck with everything you’re experiencing in your household. I can relate. And BTW, neither daughter attended prom and that was fine by me. Saved mega bucks.