I boarded the Amtrak Surfliner just before 9am to arrive in San Diego just after noon. From the train I could have taken a taxi but to save $40 or so on cab fare I hopped onto a bus that took me most of the way to the camp where Jane had spent the prior two weeks. Rather than taking a second bus and then walking a mile I tried my luck with a taxi and found myself chatting with an African man who spoke like he was singing and …
One Out of Two Kids is Home From Camp and How Much do You Tip a Counselor?
If we’re friends on Facebook you might have seen my status updates. Alexander was gone for a week and Jane is still surfing her summer away and will be home soon. It’s easy having her gone because she’s older and she’s been leaving us longer than he has. Having Alexander gone was like missing a limb, having Jane gone is akin to missing birdsong, you have to be quiet to notice it’s absence. Mr. G and I went to the Ports of Call to get Alexander from the boat that …
My Name’s Not Mom This Week
We had mono drama which cannot be compared with drama of any other sort. You see Jane went kayaking and sailing at camp on Thursday, hopped into the car at 3pm, declared it a wonderful day and fell promptly asleep. Jane isn’t a kid who naps. This is unusual. When Jane woke up she said she had a sore throat. After dinner she said she had a really sore throat. Since I was bringing her to camp for two weeks on Sunday I thought it would be prudent to swing …
Jane is Back from Outward Bound
We picked Jane up from the airport last night and she was radiant. Outward Bound is the right program for her. She paddled 80 miles in five days, made new friends and has more bug bites than I ever could have imagined. Jane’s skin was perfect. Those midwestern girls with their humidity may be shiny at times but there’s nothing like skin that hasn’t been hit by the desert sun. In typical Jane fashion she talked a mile a minute about the other girls. They were from places like New Jersey …
I Dropped My Daughter off at the Airport and it was like… Nothing
Jane had a 6.30am flight this morning. She’s just arrived in the midwest for a week of rockclimbing, canoeing and camping with Outward Bound. She went last year and to say that it changed her life would be a gross understatement. The combination of sports and mountaineering has given Jane the ability to walk away from massive amounts of peer pressure to keep outside the fray when it comes to girl drama. So this morning I set my alarm clock for 4.15. I wanted to be up before Jane, have …