who no longer are.
Month: November 2021
Reading
Book Fair
The Boy wanted to go to the bookfair. For someone who doesn’t like reading, or at least claims he doesn’t like reading, he certainly does get excited about getting new books.
The trick, as with every reader, is to find books he likes — and in his case, that means books that make him laugh. The Dog Man series is a favorite, so he bought the newest installment, Grime and Punishment. Yes, it is making the allusion you’re thinking. Other books in the series include:
- Mothering Heights
- Fetch-22
- Lord of the Fleas
- A Tale of Two Kitties
- For Whom the Ball Rolls
- Brawl of the Wild
I don’t know how many other kids know the allusions, but I explained them all to the Boy. I couldn’t talk intelligently about two of the books, though: For Whom the Bell Tolls (which I’ve never even attempted to read) and Catch-22 (which I tried to read in high school but just never got into).
Afterward, a bit of guitar practice. D, my best friend since forever (as my kids would say), is coming to town next weekend for a Genesis concert in Charlotte: it will be a boys’ night out, just the three of us. The Boy’s first concert. He’s preparing a little concert for D with a few little surprises sure to make him smile.
As for the girls this evening? They’re at L’s third and final club tryout. She’s been offered positions in the top teams of the other two clubs she tried out for this weekend, and I expect the same from this club. It is, after all, Excell, for whom she’s played for two years now, playing sand, grass, and indoor with them. I have a feeling, though, that she’s not going to go with them this year.
November Ride
Final Game
All Saints’ Day Reimagined
A few pictures from twenty years ago, re-edited.
Chess Club
We had our first meeting of chess club at school today. I didn’t have a chance to get it going during the first quarter because of — well, truth be told, a good bit of it was laziness. But I was overwhelmed with all the responsibilities of teaching a class I hadn’t taught in a few years, so I put it off. I already regret it a little: I had about 12 kids show up for the first meeting today, and three of them were girls. I can’t express how thrilled I was that three girls were interested in chess, something always seen as a nerdy boys’ game.
Family Game
Finals
It’s nearly the end of the fall soccer season: we’re in the final week of practice before the final game on Saturday. It’s been a tough season: no wins except through forfeit (does that even count?) and only one tie (last week thanks to E’s hat-trick). There’s been a little tension within the team as a result of it all. One boy, arguably the strongest player on the team, started taking things into his own hands (or rather, feet) and trying to be a one-boy show at times, not passing or even appearing to be aware of the other players. This frustrated some boys and comforted some boys: as long as he had it, things rose or fall on his shoulders. A win would be due to him, but a loss could also be attributed to him. Perhaps they didn’t think that, but I’ve no doubt it was at least an unconscious relief for some when it was A that was losing the ball in a move that ultimately ended in an opposing team’s goal rather than their “screw-up.” But now A has been out for a few weeks due to injury, so the boys have had to gel without him. As a result, there’s been better team play, and now that everything has gelled to some degree, it’s almost over.
That’s a fairly frequent pattern in life, though: as soon as everyone gets used to the year’s teachers, for instance, and everything is clicking seamlessly, the year ends. This is even more the case in block scheduling, like at L’s high school, where classes meet for 90 minutes a day but only for one semester. By the time everyone really knows how the class works and has found their place in it, the class is over.
In the repetitions of the seasons and holidays, it’s the same. As soon as we’re comfortable in the hustle of the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s quartet, it’s over and we’re all exhausted from it.
“In my beginning is my end,” wrote TS Eliot
All Saints’ Day 2021
This year was the first All Saints’ Day that we visited both Nana’s and Papa’s grave. I guess it was always their common grave from the time the bench was set in place but now both their remains are resting there.
It’s strangely normal already.