Camp With Nerds
Jane came home from her first day of specialty camp thrilled beyond belief. There are about 100 boys and a dozen girls and she stood in my living room gesticulating wildly while exclaiming, “They’re all nerds. You sent me to nerd camp and it’s the most wonderful place in the world.” She told us about the kids that were there to learn to hack, program and build computers. She told me that no one cared about clothing or things like making eye contact and she was the only kid who really wanted to be outside for part of the day. She then went on to tell me how much she enjoyed putting music to video and I had a moment where I thought: She’ll be a sound editor. But then I remembered that she’s 13 and she also wants to be a hairstylist and a race car driver.
Jane thinks nerds are cool. I’m a good mother.
I went to Kelsie’s house for a visit last night and she’s drain free but still very bandaged. Breast cancer is violent. It has nothing to do with pink products and a lot more to do with blood, stitches, lymphaitic fluids and ports semi-permanently attached to your body. It’s weird to see her look so okay, but she’s one of those people who is always okay. She talked about not feeling like less of a woman without her breasts. She also talked about the fact that there is no bright side to cancer… which is a total AMEN SISTER. I bring up Kelsie because I was chatting with her husband who is a sound editor and told him that Jane is really loving Final Cut Pro and told me to not waste her time learning that, no one is using it, just get AVID and learn that. I told him that she’s also learning Adobe After Effects and he smiled and nodded and thought that was valuable for a kid to learn.
Which is awesome, until next year when she wants to be a veterinarian or maybe an astronaut.