Friday, May 27, 2005

catcher in the rye.....

ok, so i dargged myself out of bed at 12:11 pm...read the paper over what i believe to be decaf coffee...note to self- must to go grocery today......and then picked up the copy of catcher in the rye that was abandoned in the rennovated bathroom.......this classic novel is as good as any a place to start in disclosing my movements in the past 24 hours......start at the end, then slowly work your way through the relevant events til you get back to the beginning (end).......got it?......graduation was at 8:00 pm last night.......we sat in roughly the same spot we did when our eldest graduated (the main auditorium/theatre space at centre college......and held a seat for tosca.....who must have sat elsewhere......ah well.......we had a good view for seeing our middle child's validictory address....which was not attributed so on the program.....the three top scholars spoke, with no real designation as to which was which......which only matters, i suppose, to the parents of those who spoke......and it was a brilliant speech...what i heard of it between crying fits by a 2-year old in the row ahead of us......her mother finally took her out, then abruptly brought her back when she calmed down.....only for the bless-ed child to start it up again just at the finale.....i have asked for a transcript so that i may absorb the words of wisdom at my leisure.....that was the gist of the speech.....wisdom versus knowledge......unlike other speeches which basically toyed with the here we are ready to leave theme.......our child won one of the monetary trust fund awards...the one for the graduating senior with the greatest passion for history....funded in honor of a member of the dhs class of 1962 who was tragically killed several years back......that was a nice touch to the evening......the reunion of graduates to their family units in the grand foyer was chaos.......as we searched for our favorite senior we were approached by an older couple (read this as older, not elderly) who walk through downtown daily in the before 7:00 am time slot......last saturday they had chanced to look up to see the enlarged photo of my spouse on a bike, surrounded by black streamers and the large notation 1955-2005 below.........and misunderstood completely......they jumped to the immediate conclusion that my spouse had died.....not that he had just turned 50........and wanted to assure him when they saw him at graduation that they had been so saddened at the time that someone so young and in such good shape could have passed away......this was a precious moment, gentle readers........one we could not have seen coming......and so after the requesite photographs we headed home......only for some of us to change clothes and go back to the high school for the annual project graduation....the unfamiliar need to understand that this a ten-year old tradition in these parts....an overnight lock-in funded by donations intended to keep raucous celebrations sober and safe.....i believe that 81 of 89 graduates attended.....til the bitter end at 6:00 am this morning...when the big prizes were drawn.......$1000 in cash...and a dell laptop........drawings for lesser prizes were drawn during the night....my child walked away with a 13-inch tv/dvd combo and a surge protector.....and a portable dorm fan......and a load of coupons to aread businesses.....i helped with the food....setting out and replenishing donated pizza, cookies, chips and salsa, vegetable and fruit trays subway sandwiches.....etc.......curiously, most of these kids requested bottled water rather than soft drinks.......i had an opportunity to chat with all sorts of combinations of parents also there to help........as well as to watch napoleon dynamite, school of rock, meet the fockers.....and part of the secret window....a stephan king story starring johhny depp........i walked away from the strange film shortly after depp found his dog brutally murdered.....i have my thresh-hold for horror....and dead pets is right there at the top of the list of offensive visuals......much moreso that exposed body parts, foul language, and acts of war.......but i digress........i crawled into bed about the time that my spouse was crawling out......i may just go back to bed......i am so physically and emotionally tired from the month's festivities.......although i did have the foresight to take the day off.......and thus i am looking forward to a 4-day weekend......in a house/garden that is relatively tidy......so there are no pressing projects....well....there is the poison ivy to eradicate.....but aside from that i may just lay around for 4 days just to recoup my sanity.....which brings me back to catcher in the rye......i must admit that i never saw our tragic hero as crazy.....just really exhausted with too much understanding of those around him rather than not enough......good analogy...taking it all in last night i had numerous flashbacks to the all-night after-prom party i attended my senior year......noticing the senior couples and noting the poor odds for the relationship lasting past college separations or merely from the test of time.......and recalling that unless one moves back to one's hometown at some point after college, the only place my child will see many of these folks again is either at reunions, or at funerals.......and the folks he will keep in touch with are the ones that either meant the most, or that were the most convenient to keep up with.....i have pontificated far too long...must get back to my book........

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