Life of Wry

As Alice Cooper said, “School’s out for the Summer. School’s out forever.”

In honor of this crazy fact, here are some pics:

First day of kindergarten, posed–as all first day of school pics–in front of the sycamore tree.. a tree, as I’ve written before, that is nourished with Peter’s placenta. Yup. Sentimental as all get out.

[Whattaya think, the shoes or the eyebrows? What is best about this picture? The position of the hands? His winsome smile? This photo just melts my heart right down to the nubbins.]

And today (occurs to me, I should have had him pose likewise.. missed a bet there):

How about a backpack comparison?

Okay, how about comparing modes of transportation?

This kid rode his bike to school every single day from kindergarten day one…until his junior year of high school when his bike had been stolen and he ended up walking the entire year; and then in his senior year when he DROVE most days… for goodness sakes, to a school closer to home than either Chavez or Holmes.

His Davis school career.

Not counting a year of nursery school, that’s 13 years; somewhere between 60-70 teachers; countless homework assignments and reports; countless tests, quizzes and assessments; a boatload of As, a fair smattering of Bs, and until Spanish 6 this year, zero Cs (do I have to count that F in Independent Life Sports for dropping out without notifying anybody, which may or may not have counted in his GPA, I was never sure?).

And of course the value of school was anything but grades and tests and homework. It was as much about his friends, his social development, and his discovery of who he is. It was about learning how to function in the world, about learning how to deal with successes and failures.

I’m certain beyond any doubt that Jim and I knew but a small fraction of what he experienced on a day to day basis between the time he left for school and the time he came home. A lot happened in that special, unique space known as school that contributed to who he is and how he views the world. And we had little to do with it.

I’m deeply grateful for it all. Imperfect and perfect at the same time.

Anyway… just wanted to post some first day/last day photos. Because that is EXACTLY why I took them…. so that one day, we could look back and see what he looked like way back when, and especially how much he’d grown.

~~

Postscript on the election:

I’m having a bit of voter’s remorse on this one. I voted against Nishi, even though I thought it was a reasonably good–good enough–infill project. It was an emotional vote, impulsive once in the booth, against the personality & attitude of the developer, who’d been a petulant a-hole in a forum. That was it.

Jim was a huge Matt supporter and worked on his campaign. I came to also like his platform and his approach to serving on the council. I hope he’ll return next cycle.

I wasn’t displeased, but I was surprised by the margin. I voted for Bernie, happily, though was mightily torn. Hope his message makes its way into the party platform and he into a central role in the Clinton administration. Still feelin’ the burn.