School’s out!
We have been out of school for two whole days now and it really doesn’t feel like it’s summer just yet! Granted, his last day of school was on a Friday. He had a great last few weeks and I really, truly hope that next year will be better. He got off to a rough start and had some troubles with some kids about really silly things, but I think that next year will be just great! The problem, I guess if you could call it that, is that he was very impatient because he knew a lot of the stuff that they were learning. At least that’s what I gathered from him. He already understood the material. So I tried to explain to him that even if you understand it, try to help your friends understand it. Of course, that just ended up getting him set up for being picked on for getting answers right. He did have a bad tendency of blurting answers out which I hope I’m helping curb. Even now, when I catch him blurting things out at home, I try to stop and correct him.
That said, I think we’re going to have a great summer. Of course, I started the summer with a nasty head cold. I was pretty wrecked for a couple of days there. I’m feeling a lot better today. Better than I’ve felt all week! Which means hopefully soon we’ll be pestering a friend of ours go to swimming at her apartment and maybe this will be the summer that Monster learns to swim! Last summer, a friend of mine had promised and promised and promised to teach Monster to swim but when it came down to it, he didn’t really want to. And that’s okay! I just don’t want Monster to be as afraid of water as I am. In my defense, I have a phobia of water for legitimate reasons (I nearly drowned twice, thanks to some really great “friends” I had when I was younger), but I really do want him to be active and understand how to swim. I think that would be really fun for him.
Anyhow, I think this summer will be great barring all complications. I have high hopes!
Smoking cigars
When I was in high school, I had a friend who prided herself on her ability to cut and smoke cigars. I never understood it. They always looked really gross to me. They reminded me of my grandpa somehow. But she was really proud of herself. I haven’t kept in touch with her since high school, but I somehow have this image in my head of her still smoking her cigars. I imagine her going into cigar shops and buying la gloria cubana cigars and looking all proud of herself. Maybe even getting them home and taking the time to smell them and care for them gently. In my head, she has this big den with leather chairs.. like you would have in old movies, you know? I don’t know why I still picture her like that. I’m sure she’s grown considerably, but for some reason that image always brings a small smile to my face.
Musically inclined friends
When I was in middle school, I was in band. It wasn’t a passion of mine, but it was, you know, something to do. I had a good time with it. I played trumpet and placed really well in a bunch of contests. I don’t really remember it well because that was a pretty rough time in my life. That said, I never understood the passion and drive it takes to be that interested in music. I’m passionate about music, but I’m not passionate about making music. One of my flaws, I suppose, would be when my musically-inclined friends come to me and talk to me about these different things, like a Euphonix MC Mix guitar center piece and I have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about. Apparently, a Euphonix MC Mix is a pretty awesome little piece of equipment to have in your home studio. I don’t understand a lot about what it does, but it seems like it helps make things a lot more clear and crisp from what I’m understanding. If so, that’s a pretty great little tool. Kind of like Notepad++ for my web design!
Motorcycles
A few years back, a close family friend went through what we like to call a mid-life crisis. He was pretty young, though, so it wasn’t truly a mid-life crisis. It was just him needing a massive change, I suppose. He decided in that time that he wanted to get his motorcycle license and buy a motorcycle. Since then, I have always equated motorcycles with people who want to feel young and wild. Truthfully, there are probably a plethora of extremely responsible motorcycle owners. People who go to work, have a great family, are fiscally responsible.. People who even shop at places like TireExpress.com for motorcycle tires and keep their oils changed regularly.. But to me, I will always see my friend’s face when he woke up one day and decided “I want to ride a motorcycle.” Years later, he still enjoys it so I’m thankful for that!
Yikes – time flies when you’re stressing out.
Two weeks! Whoops. I’ve been caught up in school, Monster and general stress! Things are dying down – thank goodness. A couple of my stresses have been solved and I am so thankful for that. So here I sit at 1:30 in the morning on a “school day” for Monster, thinking about what the next few weeks are going to be full of.
He has a follow-up for his eyes this week. I am still fascinated that he has an official diagnosis of an astigmatism caused by genital ptosis, I believe, and will have to have surgery to correct it. It freaks me out. I’ve had surgery before – two in fact – and it freaks me out considerably to know that my little Monster is going to be undergoing something similar. It’s all for his benefit though, so that’s good. He’s still pretty annoyed by his glasses, but I think that will pass… eventually.
Then he has a school talent show that he’ll be participating in. I’m so proud of him! I’m so excited for him and his classmates too. I’m so thankful for his teacher who has been an absolute blessing. We started the year off with a different teacher who, I’m sure, is a fine teacher, but she just wasn’t the “right teacher for us” as I tell Monster. Telling me within 3 days of meeting my son that he “needs to be medicated” is probably not a great way to start his first year of real school, but we got through it. His teacher for the last half of the year has been an absolute pleasure and I am so thankful for her patience with Monster every single day. I will miss her and I hope that his first grade teachers are going to be just as amazing.
After the talent show, I believe he’ll be officially done with school. Next week is the last week, I believe, and the last two days are early outs. He is ready for summer! I am… kind of. I am looking forward to not having to wake up at 7am. But then let’s face it – Monster wakes up earlier than that most of the time. I am looking forward to taking him swimming and to the museum and doing things. This summer is going to be great. Last summer was kind of a bummer because of some personal issues I was going through so this one has to make up for that one! I know we can do it.
And I’m down to a year and a half left on my bachelor’s degree. I’m very excited about that and really looking forward to getting it done. I am taking some brilliant classes this term and really enjoying myself so far! Anyways, that’s enough talking for now.. Until next time!