Have Mercy

I had to wait for the bus again today.

In the pouring rain.

Fay came... although a few days ago they said she wouldn't.

And she was about as exciting as a Larry Brown novel.

My sons came off the bus and started to run for the cover of my umbrella.

"Where's your raincoats?" I hollered to them as they were in mid-stride.

"Cole left his at school," said my 8-year-old third grader with a flash drive.

"And he left his lunch box too," he said.

"Wh-wh-what?" I gasped.

"Go easy on him dad," he said,
"It was his FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!"

And how was his first day of school?

"Great," said Cole.

School Daze

School started this week and with it came a whole lot of drama.

The school has swelled past its student limit in recent years and now the campus is littered with trailers which, as it turns out, still isn't enough so they have decided to do some construction.

However, due to the construction of the new wing, the school has changed the procedure for drop-off and pick-ups: you can no longer park your car and walk your kid into school or park your car and pick your kid up from school.

Anybody who has ever spent any time in long car lines knows that having the option to park and avoid the shenanigans is key.

I really only need to endure it in the mornings as both kids will be taking the bus home (although the first two days the bus was 45 minutes late. WTF?).

When you go to your kids' school's open house, they give you a list of things your kid will need to bring in for the following year. Usually this involves things like rulers, wipes, notebooks and your basic scholastic swag. But this year my 3rd grader needs to bring in a flash drive.

I shit you not.

A sign of the times indeed.

School starting is a mixed blessing; I'm excited my youngest is going to school but it seems like only yesterday he was being born. It's hard to make the transition even though I have been looking forward to it for so long. Not only is my youngest officially out of the nest, but it also signifies that my job as a stay-at-home-dad is drawing to a close. Not that I couldn't find a job - like freelance writing - where I work from home, but rather the day in/day out sheep herding of infants and toddlers has come and gone.

I'm happy and sad at the same time.

I guess that's why I had that dream where all my teeth fall out the other night.

School starting also means summer is over. I had an insane summer last year with a bachelor party in Hollywood, hernia surgery,tick bites and a CD release show.

There was going to be no way that this summer could trump that...

But it did.

It wasn't all bad.

There was the beach trip to the Jersey Shore to see family and I lost my lake virginity.

But now it is fall, the boys have started football (flag for the youngest, tackle for his older brother) and the future most certainly must be brighter than the recent past.