The dude who is too cool for words turns 19 today!
You’ve grown into quite a fine young man and your mother and I couldn’t be prouder.
Happy Birthday, Garrett! Hope it’s a great day for you!
Posts Tagged ‘family’
Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath
Sep
26
2009
Some of my posts recently have been sad story tear jerkers about how upsetting and sad it was to see our son off to school. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. There was lots of fun and other normal vacation type of stuff too.
Check out the pictures of our recent family vacation in Newfoundland. In there are a bunch of pictures including the highlights from the Labour Day Christmas celebration in Witless Bay. I wrote about this before, but it is essentially a weekend of fun and games for kids and adults alike. In particular, members of the family who have not participated in the celebrations before are subject to a battery of initiation abuses, all of which involve ensuring the target stays wet for as long as possible. If you think you’d enjoy watching me be the target of the Witless Bay Bucket Brigade, then click on the photos and check out the whole pile.
Emptying The Nest
Sep
19
2009
This year we pushed our vacation out by a month so we could coincide our trip to Newfoundland with the start of classes at Memorial University. Our son, Garrett, started his first year at university. We were soooo excited that he chose to go to post-secondary school, and we are particularly pleased that he decided to go the university route. He’s determined to make something of himself and we are supporting that with our time, patience, money, blood, sweat and tears.
It was hectic getting him ready that first week, driving him around to buy supplies, snacks, bedding etc. and trying not to forget anything. His first couple of nights in the dorm were a little rough on him. He is a fairly quiet kid, not really getting into too much rowdiness growing up. The other kids in the dorm pretty much let loose that first week… all week… all hours. Between dealing with the noise, sleepless nights, broken heat in the rooms (it was on high and wouldn’t turn down), cafeteria food and a huge lifestyle change, our son was not having a great time. It was difficult to drop him off the night before we left Newfoundland. I got a lump in my throat and my heart was pounding, but I managed not to break down and cry. Later on while driving home, I DID hear a pretty sad song that managed to make me sob my eyes out. I mean why, WHY must that continue to achy break that poor man’s heart? Really sad song, but at least I didn’t wuss out while watching my son walk into adulthood.
Later that week, our son continued to struggle with the adjustment to dorm life. His buddy from down the street who traveled to Newfoundland to attend the same university and who happened to be my son’s dorm roommate decided that he wanted to quit and return to New Brunswick. Wow! I was so afraid this might give our son fuel for giving in to his misery and asking to do the same. However, I think it made him stronger. He pushed his friend to change his mind and put forth arguments that sounded a little like, well, me. Now, while he is still not really enjoying the whole dorm life thing, he has a stronger attitude about it. He is determined to make the most of it.
Am I missing him dearly? Yes. Am I worried about him? A little. Am I proud of him? Most certainly.
Good luck, Garrett my son. Good luck.
The Future Is Past
Aug
25
2009
The next step of our son’s journey to adulthood is done. He worked his last shift at his part time job yesterday.
He has spent the last two years with what I consider to be a very cool job for a kid his age. Two years ago he walked into Future Shop and dropped of an application. Within a couple of days he was their newest employee and also their youngest. He spent the next two years learning how to be responsible, prepared, and professional. He really had a hard time saying “so long” to his friends and colleagues down there, not to mention the employee discount!
This job helped pay his way through a European trip with his school, gave him spending money, gobs of gas money, Christmas money, helped him save for university, countless electronic gadgets and gizmos, and gave him an experience he’ll always remember.
In two days we hit the road to send him off to university. The adventure begins.
You Can Leave Your Hat On
Aug
19
2009
Anyone who has been following my meandering muses here at OhMeNerves.com knows that after a period of sporadic or non-existing posts comes the obligatory post falling under the category of writer’s block. That post usually contains a bunch of shtuff that could arguably be a virtual cesspool of blog posting inspiration leaving you, my faithful reader(s) wondering why I’ve abandoned you for so long.
Well, I hate to disappoint so this post will be no different.
Our summer here in Atlantic Canada has been a pretty shitty one so far. Through to the end of July it’s been mostly miserable, wet, and unseasonably cool. To make the weather even more unbearable, the nice days we did have were coincidental to days that our son had to work. So our weeks consisted of a sentence of rain, drizzle and fog punctuated with a lot of complaining from our offspring. Then August came. The first week was a little cool, but since then someone turned up the furnace. It’s been hot as a one night stand for two solid weeks now, and it hasn’t been a dry heat either. As everyone knows, it’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity. I was stupid enough to think we could get by without installing our air conditioners. It was fine for a while, but now… boy oh boy. Now I’m saying it’s not reasonable to put them up if we are starting vacation in a week or so anyway.
Speaking of segues, our vacation is a little late this year. We normally go during the first two weeks of August. But this year we are going during the first two weeks of September because our son is off to Memorial University in St. John’s. So we postponed our vacation by a month to bring him off to the gates of adulthood and help ready him for a year without dear old Mom and Dad.
The funny thing about segues is that Jody over at SteelWhiteTable.org also took his vacation in Newfoundland this year. While he was there he came across a souvenir that reminded him of me. Check out the hat in the picture… “Oh Me Nerves!” I don’t get it, but you never know what triggers an associational thought. I’m grateful Jody. Believe it or not, I don’t already have one, but I do have a couple of coffee mugs with that phrase on it and I have another friend that went to Newfoundland and bought a T-Shirt (for herself! Thanks Chrissy!) with that same phrase on it.
Our next-door neighbours moved out after nine years of putting up with sharing a wall with us. They decided that they would move all the way across town and change their phone number, names, and license plate. When they settled in, they immediately went on vacation at the opposite end of the country. I’m doing my best not to take it personally, although I have invested in Costco quantities of deodorant and breath mints just in case.
I played in a pool league this summer too. Played very well, my best season ever. We are in the midst of playoffs now… we’ll see if I manage to fall short of the championship (again).
Besides all that, we’ve spent a fair amount of time riding our four-wheelers, sitting on our asses, walking, eating like seagulls, dieting and generally being pissed off with enjoying each other’s company.
Now, as I look at the calendar, I can see that we have eight more sleeps before we leave to make the 2000 kilometer journey to our home town and the place where we will say “so long” to our son as he starts his own journey through the ranks of higher education and, hopefully, a full and prosperous life. Eight more sleeps.
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