Most likely I'll have to drive to Baltimore and pick Gabe up after school tomorrow. There is little chance that his usual carpool will push off promptly enough for me to make it to the orthodontist by 4:30 pm if I wait and meet him at the rendezvous point.
This is, roughly, the last orthodontic appointment I'll be taking a kid to ever. And that was a lot of teeth, a lot of wire, and a whole Jaws-sized mouthful of money, all told. (Nor have I quite seen the end of it, as Gabe will require--not long down the road--a permanent installation to replace the absent tooth which is currently supplied by means of a retainer appendage.)
What else am I almost done doing? Quite a few things, when I stop and think about it. In just under three months, I will have assembled my last school lunch. (I can't say this will break any hearts, as I have a long and entrenched history of uninspired lunch-packing.) But that's 18 years of lunch duty...and upwards of 40 if you measure in kid-years.
This summer, I will tote Gabe to his last drum lesson. I will (I hope) assist in the acquisition of the fourth and final driver's license. And I will be entirely through with waking up at 5:15 a.m. on a normal morning, so as to allow time to feed the cats and dog, make the coffee, and get Gabe up in time for carpool.
It's a little difficult to imagine life beyond a generation of regularly scheduled obligations. And no question many of the gaps will be quickly filled by irregular and unscheduled crises. But I think I'm ready. One of the things I will do is attempt to memorize the last name of my handyman, which is, by the way, Maarschalkerweerd.
4 comments:
:)
hone stretch!
hey, thanks ma.
I've noticed that although it is only mid-March, you are approaching your record for most posts in a year. Any clue as to why your frequency has increased so much this year?
In the Baltics, we continue to have snow almost everyday, even when the temperatures are warmer (above freezing). Those warm days, however, did reduce the piles of snow enough for me to be able to stack the new snow with less torque on the back.
Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? This is a recent phenomena for us.
St. Patrick's Day is an excuse for many bars to decorate and have "green beer drinking contests" and such. It's a celebration for many, but not everyone pays attention to it. You'll always see more people wearing green today.
Ah yes..snow-shoveling torque. During this winter's shoveling, I found I had to only throw snow to the right after a while, to spare my right wrist.
As for me blogging more prolifically...I'm going to guess that it's my way of avoiding my longer-term project.
When Austin was born, I realized I would have 28 straight years of lunch packing. When Trevor arrived, I stopped counting .... but Fred started packing.
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