Date Night

Last night Meghan spent the night with one of her friends, so Alan and I decided to go to a movie. Of course the one we wanted to see (Ghost Writers) started when I was getting off work. We had two other back ups ( Bounty Hunter and The Hot Tub Time Machine) that were dependent on how fast we go get to the theater after I was off work. Well we ended up with The Hot Tub Time Machine. Now to begin with this a R rated movie. that was the 1st clue that it might not be suitable for children. We walk into the theater and their is a mother with her three kids (Meghan's age and younger) sitting in the row in front of us. As we sit down, I think, "I hope she researched the movie thoroughly before coming with her kids to see this".

The movie starts and while it stupidly funny, you can tell within the 1st 10 - 15 minutes that this movie is grossly inappropriate for children. I expected that at any moment the mother and kids would get up and leave. Much to my surprise and horror, they stayed for the entire show. While Alan was in the restroom, the mother is walking by with the kids and telling them that was a movie they really should not have seen. Gee, you think?

After the movie, we went to eat dinner. It is now 11:55 so our choices were limited to say the least. So we went to Denny's because we do have a favorite waitress there who is really good. We get seated in a booth that is in between two other groups. The group at the table behind Alan was a group of four that were the age of our parents. The one wife in the group had obviously way too much to drink before she got to Denny's. She was exceedingly loud. She was telling stories about her grandchildren ages 12 and 7. She even gave sound effects that were even louder. When they ordered, her husband was concerned about how the ham was processed and tied the waitress up with this for about 10 minutes. Dude, you either want the ham or you don't want the ham. It is after midnight, does it really matter? The group seating behind me had been pretty quiet to this point and then there food arrived and the "woke up". Suddenly they f this, f that. I 'll kick your @**. They were just crude and obnoxious. As they spoke i was reminded that my grandmother used to say that people that spoke like that only showed how uneducated and limited their vocabulary really was. It makes you wonder how many of us manage to live such drama free lives.

Screaming for Attention

Some people seem to scream for attention but get offended when they get it. The other day we had a customer bring a monkey into the store to shop with her. Yes, you read right, a MONKEY. If you bring an exotic pet out in public, I think you are asking to for people to pay attention to you. From the moment this woman arrived in the store, she was hateful to everyone that expressed interest in the monkey. One employee asked about the monkey and was told not to touch that it would bite her. Hmmm...maybe you should not bring it out if it will bite people. Does not seem fair of her to expose her pet to the stress of the public if it is incline to bite.

I was to amused to see her try to shop with a monkey. It looked like it might be worse that trying to shop with a toddler on a bad day. The monkey was trying to get into and grab everything.

Finally!!!

Meghan has been a member of her schools string program for four years. Each year they send 4 members to county festival. It is the equivalent of the all county that many of my contemporaries are familiar with. This is suppose to be the top 2 violinist from each group within the school. Meghan has auditioned every year knowing that regardless of audition scores that she would be unable to go because she was too young. Last year they changed the requirement from 4th grade to 5th grade so she had to wait another year. Well this year she gets to go. Meghan is excited.

Tomorrow I will chaperon the rehearsal session which will run during school hours for about 5 hours. On Feb. 27 they will have another rehearsal followed by a concert. I am looking forward to seeing her reach this next step that she has yearned for for several years.

Meghan Wins the School Geo Bowl

Meghan won the 5th grade Geo bowl for her school. This may not be a surprise for most with Alan a history/social studies major and me a political science major. Now this means that we are currently involved in a deep study of the 5th grade social studies book because in Dec she will compete against 66 other 5th graders in the county. Meghan's school is usually done in by the Florida history questions so that is a focal point of our study at this point. Meghan is determined to be the best showing that her school has had at the county level. Wish her luck!!!

Pride In My Daughter

As a parent often times you agonize over whether your child is developing into the type of person that you dreamed of during those infant and toddler years. As your child begins to be exposed to experiences and values outside your home you question whether you have done enough to send the messages that instill in them the values that you hope that will take into the world from home. I believe that I can find comfort in the fact that Meghan appears to be moving in that direction.

A couple of weeks ago, Meghan was invited to attend a family celebration for the birthday for one of her best friends younger brothers. Even though Meghan was not able to attend the family celebration, she still wanted to take a gift to the brother. The pride I felt at the time she said that is hard to put into words. She was thinking of people other than herself and that really makes me proud. We have tried to instill in her that gifts are something that you give because you want to not because you want to or expect something in return. I think this was a sign that she is hearing our messages even when we are not sure.

We take tremendous pride Meghan's accomplishments, and we hope that she does not become one of those kids that lords her opportunities and accomplishments over others. So far she appears to be maintaining the appearance of following this trend.

Return to School

Well it is the end of summer here as we returned to school on the 10th. Meghan is now in 5th grade!! Wow... why can they not stay small forever. So far, Meghan is very pleased with her teacher. She has big plans for the year. She will be in the strings program at school and made it into the BSYO Strings Ensemble. Alan and I will be the manager for this group this year. Saves a little of the cost but increases our time spent. Meghan also will have dance classes on Tuesday and Friday nights. She is not sure if she will keep all 5 classes in which she has enrolled.

We spent a great summer traveling and being with family that we have not seen in a number of years. I will try to post pictures soon. I have been trying to post a video of Meghan playing the violin at the church my inl aws attend.; however, I am having issues getting it uploaded here and on facebook. Probably operator error or impatience.

Florida Sunsets II

Just love the sunsets around here. The ones at the bottom are taken over the river.