Wanted to share with you some of the more significant recent achievements of the folk who allow me to live with them.
Tonight we are going to a ceremony where the eldest princess, a HS freshman, is receiving an academic letter for being on the high honor roll the 1st 3 quarters. I don’t remember them having such things when I was in school (not that I would have gotten one.) Strikes me as a neato idea!
Middle son, at 13, has just made it to the rank of star in Boy Scouts (next is Life and then Eagle.) (No, I’m not a big fan of many aspects of the national organization, and I don’t know what we are going to do when and if he is confronted with that God question, but he gets a lot out of his troop, and I acknowledge his committment and accomplishments.)
Youngest daughter just learned that next year as a 7th grader she will be playing clarinet in the 8th grade band as well as the jazz band.
Ms. Dinsdale has recently begun taking violin lessons, and is amazing me with her dedication and progress. She also has registered to return to school next fall to receive her teacher’s certification, and a master’s in school administration. Looks like she may have finally decided what she wants to be when she grows up!
Whew! These folk wear me out. Think I’ll take a nap. Someone has to!
Just wanted to let you know all the kids today aren’t going on school sponsored field trips to strip clubs, and showering their classmates with shit and offal.
I’ve got no kids of my own, by my Peanut is devising a system in which we will use our home PC to tape TV (a la TiVo) and play all our CDs like a jukebox. He’s been downloading freeware, perusing messageboards, and generally spending all his free time on this. It should be pretty damn cool once it’s up and running.
I don’t have kids but one of my favorite pasttimes is bragging about my best friend.
She’s doing her first triathalon this weekend in her home town. I bet she’s gonna win, she’s such a badass.
Also, her winning time at a local half marathon last year got her a free entry into the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. On the same day and course as Grandma’s Marathon, starts an hour earlier at the halfway mark. Obviously.
Way back when, when we were just starting this household/family deal, the missus and I made the conscious decision that money spent on books and/or music was never wasted. Now, my eldest has played piano since she was 4, and as a freshman she made the highest of 3 HS bands playing flute. The 7th grader plays trumpet and played on the 8th grade band this year as a 7th grader, and is bugler for his scout troop. Next year he will be on the same band with his younger sister who asked for, and got, an alto sax for x-mas in addition to her clarinet. The 2 girls will be going to band camp this summer (yes, the American Pie references fly pretty furiously when that comes up.)
My youngest brought home the piano and trumpet charts for some of her jazz tunes, and I was able to thump along with the 3 kids on my bass. We do a mean version of Louie Louie.
And I guess I was inaccurate to say Ms. D. was taking violin lessons. Correction - she is taking fiddle lessons!
One of the things that makes me happiest about where my life is at right now is when I’ll just be hanging around the house, maybe sitting in the living room reading, and I get to hear live music. The kids are at the point where they are really making music, rather than squawking and banging away. Sometimes with all 3 and my wife going at the same time, it sounds like an orchestra warming up.
(The dog does not share my pleasure. Instead, she whines, and asks to be let outside. There’s always one critic!)
We have a place in Michigan we go to over the summer, and the kids bring their instruments and play outside. With the music wafting across the lake, it is magical.
