Soon -- very soon...
Berries Approaching
Pressuring Washing Monopoly Blueberries
There is a tsunami approaching: we got the first hints today. Hidden here and there among the pale blue berries are a few dark, ripe ones. There were not many this morning, but there were enough to fill a small cup. What awaits us, though, is overwhelming -- in the most positive way, to be sure, but overwhelming nonetheless.
We picked them after we spent a bit of time blasting off the last bit of paint on the ramp that leads to our side entrance.
It was the ramp we built to help us get Nana and Papa into their new quarters a little over four years ago. We don't have much need for it now -- we could survive with a simple path and a couple of steps, but of course, we would never go through the time and expense of taking out the ramp and putting in a walkway in. As with the walk-in shower, it's a reminder of a time now gone, of family now gone, of times never to return.
And so, as if almost in an unconscious effort to make the most of the times we have together, we did something we haven't done as a family in a while: play a board game. L, of course, won -- she almost always wins. The Boy came in last, as he frequently and sadly does. K and I, not worrying about who's winning or losing as the game progresses, end up in the middle.
A perfect evening in the middle of the week. We need more of them.
Paint Peeling
We'll definitely be doing some repainting this summer...
Prayer Before Praying
Nothing could epitomize better the sense of worthlessness that Catholicism instills in its believers than this "prayer before praying." In it, the penitent admits that even when praying, when doing what the god of the Bible commands, he's a worthless pile of nonsense, and without a little bit of Jesus' blood smeared on his lips, he would say the most outrageous things...
But then there's the eternal problem with such things: if there should be a prayer before praying, shouldn't there be a prayer before praying the prayer before praying? And logically, shouldn't there be a prayer before praying the prayer before praying the prayer before praying? If nothing I say is worth saying without praying beforehand, and even that prayer is not worthy of anything other than scorn because I'm some useless shit of a sinner, shouldn't I just play it safe and keep my mouth shut?
Grilling
K is turning dinner over to me over the summer. Time to fire up the grill!
Our Saturday, Their Saturday
Last Day 2023
Eighth-Grade Day
Coming faces
I spent the day in a sixth-grade classroom covering for a teacher wanted to go on today’s eighth-grade field trip. I met about 100 young men and ladies who are about to move into the seventh grade, students who will eventually turn out to be my students. I started each session taking roll and asking them about first impressions.
“What is a first impression?” I asked, and some really didn’t know. They’d heard of it, but they didn’t really know what it was or how we create those critical impressions that serve as the initial foundation for all future interactions.
“Are you making a first impression?” I asked Jose when I called his name.
“What are you doing that is creating a first impression,” I asked Sara ask I continued down the roster.
“What first impression have you presented to me?” I asked James when I got to his name.
“That’s making an impression,” I said to Nadia, pointing to her foot that bobbing up and down. She looked down then stopped immediately. “I’m not saying it’s a bad impression — I’m just pointing out that it is contributing to the first impression you’re creating.”
These are the basic social-emotional skills and awarenesses that so many kids are completely clueless about. They’re not aware of the simple fact that they are communicating with every single thing they do. They’re not aware that even when they think that no one is watching, that no one is drawing conclusions from how they walk, how they talk, how they interact with their friends — when they think they’re completely invisible.
Elementary School Graduation
Today, our Boy finished elementary school. "I mean, I have to go three more days after that," he explained to me the other day, "but once I get that piece of paper, I'm basically done."
Our daughter has two more years of high school; our son starts middle school next year...