Sad Times...first one flying the coop

Math glitch on my part... it was more like 4,900 miles. And we flew the majority of that.

 

I asked my boy to remember to call his mom every now and then and he was not with the program. I told him to remember who had kept him fed every day for these past 18 years and get with the program.

 

He was actually pretty ticked off that he had to drive me 350 miles to drop me off.
I took a train home for Thanksgiving freshman year, and had to bum a ride for Xmas, spring break and end of year.

Summer after freshman year, I had to save enough money from summer job and selling pot to get a car.

 

Best 80's movie for road trip home from college, "The Sure Thing." Nicolette Sheridan.....or Daphne Zuniga???

 

This is a goddamn inspiration, Buck.

 

Some day our children will be the type of teenager and young adult I was.

 

Great movie

 

Meanwhile, I'm transitioning into my father.
Often annoyed for no apparent reason.
Tossing nonsequitur St. Augustine and Barry Goldwater quotes at my children, who are 2-years-old and 6-months-old so have no idea what I'm babbling about.

Last weekend, I was sitting in an empty room by myself, no radio or TV playing, and I just started complaining about Donovan McNabb for no reason whatsoever.

 

I was at a game recently where the guy next to me was chewing gum at a moderate volume--not popping bubbles or chewing gum like an '80s chick, but at enough of a steady hum so that the sound of his gums flapping and his fingers pecking at the keyboard eventually filled me with murderous thoughts. Along with, oh yes, I remember how my Dad inexplicably hated non-loud gum chewing. Probably still does, I haven't chewed gum in front of him in decades.

 

My freshman year roommate literally spent hours on the phone with his girlfriend back home. She would even call at 6 a.m. because she missed him; plus there was all sorts of the drama at that age of her being worried about him cheating on her, so a large part of the phone call was the two of them reassuring each other that they were being faithful (she was quite beautiful, so he was the one who really should have been more worried). He moved out after our first semester to live with a friend, and I found out later that they did, indeed break up.

Each month, my phone bill would be something like $40-$50. His would be between $250-$300.

 

By the mid 90s, it became affordable to set up a personal 1-800 number that routed calls to your home phone, so that's what my parents did. I still only called once a week or so.

 

My oldest just began Kindergarten, which is full-day, five days a week. I didn't get emotional about putting him on the bus for the first time or anything, but two weeks in, I find myself missing having him around as much as I did. I don't know what I'll do when my daughter gets on the bus in three years.