Prom Prom Prom

So last weekend, we had another prom. Prom, prom, prom.

And prom.

Contrary to what we parents and kids think of what that means (expense, worry about drinking and driving, & inattention to curfews), the word is short for promenade which means “to march proudly as you show off your dress and tuxedo.” And can also be translated by parents to “look at my beautiful baby is on a date – waaaaa…”

But that’s just me.

This latest prom was full of the standard photos of beautiful girls in their gorgeous dresses lined up in a row and at just the right angle.

So pretty! If the girl decides that she wants to go to the prom, I’m going to call one of these ladies and ask if she could borrow one of their dresses. Guess which one…

Though the girls are all pretty, my very favorite photos are of the boys.

By the way, the boy’s shirt arms were horrendously wrinkled and I wouldn’t let him take off his jacket until an hour into the gathering while the wrinkles worked themselves out.

Boys don’t take the prom or the photos or just about anything seriously.

Look at LCAT Chris…he’s not even dressed up. Actually he didn’t go. He just showed up as a show of solidarity for the boys. Boys do that…girls probably wouldn’t and I should know – the girl refused to go with me to get photos.

I just love LCAT Chris. He’s the sweetest kid and one of the boy’s bestest friends. How do I get him into the family?

Did I just say that out loud?

I also love these two.

They have a type of communication that just so – primal. And makes no sense to anyone but them.

It’s just too cute.

The boy was a little bit bummed that the prom was the same night as the final game of the National Capitals vs Rangers vying for the Stanley Cup. I think if he had his preference he would have stayed home, which wouldn’t have gone over well with his date.

And I wouldn’t blame her.

Here’s my other favorite shot – of the paparazzi. I caught Miss Deb with her eyes closed but I don’t think she would mind. It’s the only photo I have to illustrate this point.

I just love them…

Just Desserts On Mother’s Day

A Mother’s Day tradition is taking Mom out to eat so she wouldn’t have to cook. I think it’s a great tradition but the only problem is – everyone does the same thing which makes the dining experience less than pleasant, at least in my mind.

Last year the family and my parents went to a wonderful place on the water called the Yellow Fish or Fin or something like that. It’s great place with the best poke, a raw tuna delicacy that’s a staple in Hawaiian menus – but don’t look for it if you go there. It’s not called poke on the menu, it’s called something else. The name escapes me right now – it’s been a long time.

I can’t remember the name of the restaurant nor of the dish – I understand this is no help. Where am I again??

Moving on…

We made a reservation for a specific time and waited two hours past the specific time with no explanation (though it was so busy it was pretty obvious why it was so) and no apology. And no discount.

I thought a rumble was going to break out in the restaurant among the waiting diners. I’m not kidding.

By the way, though the Yellow Fin (Fish, Fad) was busy that day, I would still recommend their food though it’s a bit on the expensive side.

Really – where am I?

The husband asked me what I wanted to do for Mother’s Day and I told him I didn’t want to cook or clean, I just wanted a laid-back day with take-out food for dinner. Since he was home for a total of a half day that week, I think the request made him happy.

After church the kids asked me what we were doing. I said nothing. They said, “Do you want to go out to eat?’

No I said. They asked, “Can we go fishing? Or to the beach? What are we going to do for lunch?”

All questions which resulted in a blank stare on my part. Apparently their friends were taking their moms out to eat, going kayaking, scuba diving or whatever – and I’m boring. It’s my day – I can be boring. And there’s no way I’m going fishing.

I invited them to make lunch by themselves. Find something in the pantry and the refrigerator and throw it together, I said. The boy slowly made his way to the cabinet and opened it. Then he announced there was no food in the house.

I shrugged my shoulders.

The boy then got creative and rolled up his sleeve. He ended up making the the most delicious mac and cheese he’s ever made. Or rather, it’s the only mac and cheese he’s ever made but it was still really impressive. He chopped up some chicken patties and threw them in for protein. The girl then found a potato in the refrigerator and he chopped that up and threw it in too. Yes, a potato in the mac and cheese is surprisingly good. It’s much better than I could have made so I’ve decided that I will from now on leave the mac and cheese cooking to him.

And now to the real point of this post. The girl (who is much more resourceful than the boy – it’s just the truth) took out the Sam Choy cookbook and started looking through recipes of dessert.

She then chose not one, not two, but three desserts and decided to get busy. She made a list of groceries and asked (told) the boy to take her to the store. I gave them my credit card and sent them on their way. Yes – with my credit card.

She then spent the next four hours mixing and baking and chopping and cleaning. I sat at the kitchen counter and watched her thinking that this is what it must be like to watch someone else cook in my kitchen.

The view is amazing.

I love that she put on her horse apron, it’s so cute.

The desserts were all delicious, she did such a great job! I’m incredibly impressed by my kids that day. The husband went to pick up our take-out food and said it was full of waiting moms and families. He declared that we had the best plans – it’s beats fishing or kayaking – or scuba diving. I’m kidding – no one went scuba diving as far as I know. I then sat on the couch and watched The Vow. I was so happy with the day that I didn’t even shed a single tear during the movie.

It was the best Mother’s Day ever!

Jonny In The Shower

The boy and a couple of his friends got muddy last weekend at an obstacle course. It was 2.5 miles of hills, trails, creeks, water slides and climbing walls. Literally a teenager’s dream run.

I have plenty of photos to post but I’ll start with Jonny here. Jonny is usually a quiet, reserved and serious guy.

But never forget that underneath the calm surface lies a teenage boy. He’s only 24 years old so his teen years weren’t that long ago.

So watching him play in the mud like this shouldn’t be a surprise to me.

Nothing should surprise me. But yet it still does.

I don’t like to get dirty – which explains my reluctance to garden. For some reason people wanted to come up and hug me that day, my cleanliness was too tempting a target I suppose. I had to threaten some people with their lives if they did…

I followed Jonny into the shower after his run.

I know how that sounds but he’s like a son to me so I wasn’t all that concerned about what other people would think.

It was obviously cold and I had to laugh. Look at his teeth.

As I stood there and shot photos I began to think it was a little weird that I was there so long.

A little voyeuristic I suppose?

Alright, one more shot before I walk away.

I saw him in church yesterday and he said to me, “Puna, did you get photos of me during the run?”

Oh did I ever:)

Happy Monday!

Off They Go Again…

The boy is going to Honduras again this summer. He’s excited. He’s ready.

He’s going with a bunch of really mature boys.

Doesn’t this illustrate the difference between boys and girls? I don’t think we have a single guy looking into the camera.

There we go!

Oh except for Steven back there. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Please pray for our youth pastor. He’s the bravest guy I know.

Introverts Unite

Over the last couple of weeks or so I’ve been surprised at the amount of miscellaneous press I’ve run across on the subject of introverts.

This girl, my girl – is what you would call a text book introvert. I am slowly understanding that her needs are not my own. Her reactions to situations may not be how I would react.

And I’m learning that it’s ok.

She’s my daughter but she’s not me and I couldn’t do what she does on that horse.

While traveling a couple of weeks ago, I came across this article in Time magazine about shyness. I consumed the article, looking for help for myself, not for my child. I sometimes will find myself reacting negatively to her shyness namely by pressing her to be more outgoing. Our society puts more inherent social value on the extrovert. They have more friends, they get better jobs, they are happier – or so it seems.

I find myself wishing that the girl would be more like this lady in the purple, telling funny stories and being the center of attention. I’m so wrong about this on so many different levels.

I came across this video on YouTube today. It had my rapt attention and I’m relieved to have a level of acceptance for the girl’s temperament that I didn’t have before.

The real value in educating myself on the introvert is that they are ok with how they are, it’s us (namely me) that need another perspective.

So I’m on a journey of reformation – of my attitude – in that I need a new attitude.

If you have an introvert that you love in your life, your daughter, your husband, or your friend, take a look at the YouTube video I linked too. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

Projectile Vomiting…

I know this title is disturbingly gross. And it comes after my Senior Prom post…tsk tsk.

This was my poor boy during our college visit a week and a half ago. I chronicles our planes, trains, and automobiles adventure here but what I didn’t tell you want that during all of that – the boy was seriously sick with a sinus infection. The poor thing was sneezing and sniffling and stealing boxes of tissues wherever he could find them. I had him on all kind of medication but it only help slightly with the symptoms.

I felt so badly for him but he did really well with the traveling and the touring of the school in spite of it all. It’s amazing what adrenaline can do for you.

His gift to me after we got back was passing me his illness. I began having the exact same symptoms because of our togetherness 24/7 in hotels, airplanes and rentals cars. He couldn’t help but sneeze once or twice on me and I couldn’t help but breathe in his germs.

We’re a family.

He began to get better last week – or so we thought. I took him to the doctor as soon as we got home and he was declared on the mend. But not so fast.

He woke up early Thursday morning complaining of acid reflux or some kind of stomach “thing.” I took him downstairs so that he could sleep sitting up on the couch and then sat next to him to monitor his progress. He moaned in pain for about an hour, then got up at 4 am and proceeded to projectile vomit all over the living room floor, over and over and over again.

Who knew that the human body can hold so much liquid.

Sometimes it’s fun being a mom, especially his mom. Sometimes it’s not.

He offered to help clean up but really his feverish pained face told me that this job was to be handled by me only. You know what else? He got up and went to school the next day, stating that he has missed too many Sociology classes. That’s when I knew he was delirious with fever.

And so it was…the next night he woke up at 1 am and threw up again. This time though, he made it to the toilet. These things you can learn.

And then the next night, he went to the Senior Prom.

Are you getting the picture now? When I complained about my week last week you can take it to the bank.

He’s better today, just so you know…

The Senior Prom…

The boy had his Senior Prom last Saturday evening. It certainly sounds exciting . . . but the truth is, it crept up on us.

I’m keeping it real here.

The last month or so – oh who am I kidding? That last six months or so, all of us – our entire family – has been consumed with college preparation. Consumed to the point that almost everything else has been set aside. And the Senior Prom was a casualty of that.

The prom also came at the end of a long day shooting a bike ride event. I’m normally much more involved in the preparation for things like this but I was just barely hanging on that week with my sinus infection and Mike’s death…before I knew it, the week came and we still did not have a vest or tie for the boy.

We made the trek to the Men’s Warehouse and the salesman asked us when the prom was. Our embarrassing answer was, “Tomorrow night.”

Standard face bomb pic…

His date was a doll about it, they decided to keep it low-keyed and casual. No limos, no dinner, and no hours of posing for parent photographers. She looked adorable by the way. I’m sure she didn’t buy her dress the night before. Her mom said to me when I walked into their home, “The Senior Prom! Are you sad?”

I was weary and I answered what I felt was the truth at the time, “No.”

I wish now that I had taken more photos. I said to the husband the day after that we didn’t have any photos of him and us…the family.

We dropped them off at the prom and talked on the way home about it. We both said that when it came to the boy, our focus was forward. We were excited that he was excited about his future. And he’s excited to get out of high school. And though he was happy to go to the prom, he wasn’t all that excited about the event either. He claims that proms are more for the girl than the guy. As a matter of fact, he indicated to me that the prom wasn’t worth all the stress. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and said, “What stress?”

Just sayin…it’s not like he had to pay for the tickets, his tie or his vest. And he was chauffeured there by his parents.

He said, “You know, filling out the paperwork and getting a table and stuff.” His date was from another school so there was paperwork that her principle had to fill out. It’s pretty standard but it’s just one more thing for the poor boy to do.

I feel for him.

They did look cute together though. He’s wearing his dad’s tuxedo again which is dad has the forethought to actually get dry cleaned. He’s the only one in the family who’s still has his wits about him. And he was only home for one day last week but still managed to keep it and us together.

They said they had a great time. They hung out with their friends and then came home to hang out – I was fine with that. It seems there are some kids who face suspension this week for drinking and conduct unbecoming (military vernacular) at the prom. Who’s surprised? Not me.

Now when it’s time for the girl’s prom – well – things will be different I’m sure. Those of you with both male and female children understand. By the way, we have one more prom left to attend. His date’s Junior Prom is in a few weeks. I’ll be taking A LOT more photos to make up for it.

When I think back to the weekend, I am a little sad about his last year in school. I don’t want to dwell on it, graduation is coming up and I’ll be a puddle of tears.

But I’ll be looking forward – not back. There’s a lot left to do…and many miles before I sleep. Unfortunately.

Traveling Through Space & Time

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been to Indianapolis twice, Minneapolis twice, St Louis, Grand Forks ND, Thief River Falls MN, Chicago and a place called Hibbing MN. Trips to these places were for one purpose only – to scout universities that will best fit the boy’s vision of his future.

I wish he wanted to go to school in the Caribbean. It would be so pleasant…

Last week, the boy and I traveled on six airplanes, two trains, two trams and two rental cars in the course of three days. I wanted so badly to stop and take photos. That part of the world is so interesting, it has its own stark beauty. But I didn’t have much time. We were chasing the next mode of travel.

In the effort for full disclosure, we were traveling on airline stand-by tickets. It’s sort of like hitch hiking around the United States on airplanes.

I’m not complaining about the price – it’s free – after all, if I walked eight hours a day, five days a week non-stop, it would take me four months to walk from Minneapolis to Las Vegas. People who traveled by chuck wagon from the East coast to the West coast took twenty years to arrive. They were a totally different group of people when they finally arrived at their destination, almost a generation would have passed.

I’m putting this all of this into perspective.

And for the record, the people were awfully nice. Everywhere we went, we were shown a lot of sympathy for our plight. It was quite touching.

For example, we were unable to get on a flight out of Grand Forks so the nice gate agent suggested we drive to Thief River Falls. I said, “Where’s that?” He said it was only 45 minutes away and we had time to catch a flight out of there. The boy and I ran to get a rental car and I drove an average of 90 miles/hour (I’m exaggerating – sort of) to get to Thief River Falls (the time estimate was a little off by the way.) When we arrived, the nice ticket agent informed us that we could not board the airplane…the paperwork was done and the door was closed. The boy and I watched an almost empty airplane take off.

We got back into our car and started laughing hysterically, I think it was from the stress. As it turns out, it was a blessing because with the help of the nice lady at the rental car counter, we were able to garner a hotel room in that town, something we couldn’t do in Grand Forks because all the hotel rooms were booked for a powwow. It’s true. There was an Indian powwow in Grand Forks last weekend…

And then it started to snow in Minnesota…

In any case, this little adventure of our tells me one thing – the boy is a great travel partner, he’s fun to hang out with, and he’s resilient. He can handle any situation with good humor and resourcefulness. That’s so important to know because no matter where he ends up going to school, it won’t be anywhere close to home. It gives me great peace of mind to know that he can handle himself in almost any situation. He also looks so mature when he dresses up. Someone asked him during the course of our travels if he worked for the airlines.

It’s not going to stop me from worry though, it’s in my genes. He and the girl left for their Small Group last night and I held my breath until they got home. It’s normal right?

Twice Is The Charm

Last month, I took the boy to get his driver’s test. He summarily failed. I won’t go into detail except to say that after the driving examiner told him to put the parking brake on, he turned to me and said, “Where’s the parking brake?”

We were off to a great start.

The official story was that he wasn’t able to parallel park. The examiner got out of the car and used a ruler to measure how far the wheels were from the curb. I know that she probably wouldn’t have done that had the boy known where the parking brake was or if he didn’t accidentally popped the hood when he was looking for the hazards. He was nervous and it was a new car.

We knew going into this second attempt that we had to be prepared. His dad told him that it was just like a check ride – and that he’s never failed a check ride. So the boy prepared for this test like he would prepare for a check ride in an airplane and he passed with flying colors.

A little preparation goes a long way.

I was really happy for him, he’s been waiting a long time for this and in many ways, so have I. Driving him around to his social activities gets a little tiring at times – mom rant. There’s a couple of things that makes me somewhat sad though – the other side of the coin so to speak. He’s definitely growing up – this is just one of the many huge milestones that brings that to the forefront of my thoughts. And the discussion with my insurance company left me pained – just pained.

Upon arriving at home I gave him permission to drive himself to his Small Group meeting and at the same time did a little jig in my head that I didn’t have to drive him. Then I asked him to fill the trunk with garbage to take to the dump. Then I asked him to drop his sister off at church.

I think there’s an up side to this.

Before they left, I told the girl not to pick a fight with him while he’s driving. She promised. As they pulled out of the driveway – my boy behind the wheel, my girl next to him – she said, “The little birdies are leaving the nest!”

Oh if that didn’t hurt me…

Too Much Time On Facebook

One of the things I will miss about the boy’s inevitable trek to college, far, far away is that I won’t be able to capture portrait masterpieces of him – like this one.

I am a part of our Social Media Team at work and it’s a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot about social media strategies. On the other hand, I am spending an exorbitant amounts of time on Facebook. Way too much time.

I want to see what the kids are doing and saying and the down side of that is – I see what they are doing and saying. It can affect my outlook for the day and frankly, can put me in a sour mood. I have to get tougher skin and develop a balance on how to handle the social interactions of teenagers. Their opinions and outlook on life  hopefully will change as they get older . . .

By the way, my kids know I’m on Facebook and they post very little. They are pretty mature in their interaction, or maybe it’s because they know their parents and youth pastor is watching every little move they do. It’s not a bad thing. Do you stalk your kids on Facebook?

Getting off Facebook now…

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