Sunday

We are watching Night at the Museum here at home, in preparation for going out to Night At The Museum the second. It's Rose's turn to choose our family Sunday outing, and we talked her out of both Elitch's and the water park. We have convinced her that Disneyland is not a Sunday outing.

My sister Shelley and I went to our niece's high school graduation on Friday. It managed to be all things at once: cold, gray and threatening, sunny enough to give me a g#$% d#$% sunburn; goofy high school brand entertainment and solemn pablum of commencement speaking; throat-fillingly emotional processional and abbreviated, chaotic recessional. It managed to be all of these things in part because no effort was made to limit the amount of time consumed by the proceedings.

Our niece displayed another example of "I Have Always Been My Own Person," in a mild, unobtrusive, stylish and sweet celebration. We had fun seeing family members and being only bit players in the day's drama.

(It is a rare day indeed that I enjoy being a bit player. Take note.)

Today we have a graduation party (ceremony not required) for a family friend. Last week we sidestepped a wedding, the bride having put a halt to the marriage. True to form, my admiration for her courage came in the second emotional wave; the first was my own relief at being excused from a long day of smiling at strangers in a town a couple of hours away. I would LOVE to get her parents alone for 3-4 hours, but an event in which I am AT BEST a bit player...?

Another year with students has wrapped up. The end of the year was surprisingly fleet and arduous. My teammate made a dramatic and last-minute decision that will split us up. I will be sharing students and a classroom with an as-yet-unnamed partner. Naturally, I have some real concern about- and for- that person. Still, there are many languorous summer days ahead, for which I am grateful. Peter and the kids have a few more schooldays.

Andy has managed to break new ground in adolescent self-sabotage. Well. It's only new ground to ME. I suppose other parents have encountered this ground, and other terrain much rockier. I, however, am not equipped to act in response to the seemingly limitless revelations. Certainly, my self-concept as a parent continues to erode. I thought I had been adequately humbled by Rose's many demands, but apparently that was naive.