We made it back to Austin in the beginning of August by which time the pandemic in America was mostly just an IQ test. But it is a free country and you can’t outlaw stupidity. In Texas it is constitutionally protected right.
So the spring of hope is a distant memory. Evan is still too young to be vaccinated – eating out indoors is over. But we did make it to a couple of movies. Jo picked the time carefully, so we were the only ones in the entire movie theater. Or maybe we picked really crappy movies to watch. We told the kids we had rented out the theater for them.
Evan is taller and browner and buffer after summer. He’s back to his old school and his old soccer team and seems to not be unhappy with either arrangement. He has mastered the art of setting expectations pretty damn low. So I am thrilled when he does five minutes of homework at bedtime on Sunday night. Or when he eats a piece of salmon. I can see where this is headed. Great job, Evan. That was fantastic breathing! Try another one. Not now, whenever. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But Evan is funny and quirky and cute and continues to stay alive and some would even say, thrive.
Vivian is settling into her new school. At 300 acres the campus is a tad bigger than the two-acre patch that was her old school – which she dearly loved. But she is settling in and making friends and spending most of her evenings buried in homework after volleyball practice or games. She expected that and it seems to make her happy. We met our international student that we are “hosting”. We hope to see more of her and may be Evan will try to learn a bit of Korean from her.
Our other baby, Ouiser, is doing well (Zeus the cat doesn’t give a shit because she’s a cat). After putting on a few extra pounds during her boarding, she is getting her shape back again. I enjoy walking her at Zilker or Edwards or Turkey Creek in the mornings and she goes to visit her neighborhood friends at the park at Rosedale School in the evenings. She enjoys the best social life in the family. Though it does involve smelling a lot of butts.
Jo has taken to suping. She bought an eleven and a half foot board she takes for paddling. The board sits in our bedroom when not in use. I’m thinking if we lived by a beach, this would be when the kids and I realize that we’ve lost her to the surfing life. Is there a suping life?
I have – hold on to your pants – started working. Not much has changed – I’m still not getting paid. But instead of not getting paid to do nothing, now I don’t get paid to work. I’m smart, aint I? Anyway, it is a startup and it is in stealth mode so I can’t say anything more except that it sucks to start my day an hour before sunrise. I’ve discovered yet again that I’m not a morning person. Or an afternoon or evening person. Besides being a hooker, do you have a suggestion for a well paid profession where I can work from after dinner till 2am while making the world a better place?
The weekends are already a blur. Jo has taken up the slack with me pretending to work, which wasn’t much of a slack to take up. Vivian had her friend over for a sleepover this weekend. Evan had his over last weekend. Karen took the kids to the Blue Hole on Sunday afternoon (thanks for the videos, Karen – I extracted a couple of stills from them). Both Vivian and Evan had so much fun.
But summer is over – as in the time of year when the kids are out of school, not the time of year when it isn’t like a sweaty armpit outside – and we’ve got a semblance of our lives back, at least during the week. One of these days when Jo isn’t out suping on the lake we’ll go and have our celebratory back-to-school drinks for brunch. Oh – she is looking for a boathouse on the water. Just a boathouse, not a home. Must have a bathroom. And a nice cozy space for her sup board.
Notes from Dad 