Fargo
Just spent two weeks in Fargo once again. I'm starting to like that town. Sometimes I think I could live there. But then again . . . The best part was over the weekend I drove down to Minneapolis to visit my mom and sister and my totally cute 3 year old niece. We played with balloons for about 3 hours. She never gets tired.I love how, with kids, if some activity is fun ONCE, then it's even MORE fun 50 times in a row. The same joke. The same game. Over and over again. But I had a great time. It's also cool how we've found she actually prefers simple household objects over expensive toys. All the 'educational' talking electronic toys are sitting broken in the back of the closet, but she will play with a marker and a cardboard box, or measuring cups, or balloons, for hours. Which is good, I think. I've made kind of a point to never buy her gifts. Maybe this is egotistical, but I like to think that when I come to visit her, I AM the gift, and she looks forward to seeing me. I buy her U.S. savings bonds for Christmas. Someday she'll appreciate it, I hope. But the bad thing was, on the drive back to Fargo, I got a speeding ticket. A speeding ticket! Sweet, innocent me! So unfair.
Anyway, now I'm back in Chicago, and my life is about to be radically altered because . . . drum roll . . . Rob is graduating in one week!! I'm proud of him, and his parents are coming to the graduation ceremony, which is probably going to be stressful as hell. The sad thing though, is I don't think he has the same sense of pride and accomplishment. He woke up depressed this morning, feeling like the whole ordeal was pointless, and it just stripped him of six years of his life, and left him with a bitter taste and eroded self confidence, and he could have been better off financially if he'd worked at McDonalds for the last six years instead of going to school. I try to be optimistic, but at the same time, I know an advanced degree in the humanities field doesn't have an obvious pay off, especially as you get older, and especially when unemployment is getting higher and higher. Neither of us are sure what he is going to do now. But somehow I know opportunities will open up. It was a smart thing to do . . . wasn't it?
Anyway, watched the most cute touching French film last night for Rob's film class, called Forbidden Games. Corny title, but really sweet sad film - best child acting I've ever seen. Bawled my head off. We actually had to watch a bunch of French films: Breathless, 400 Blows, Therese Requim, Children of Paradise, and one other one about a French guy and a German guy who were friends during WWII, but I can't remember the title. I never really knew much about French film, so, even if he doesn't appreciate his degree, at least I'm learning something! ha ha.
That's about it.