May 26, 2007 19:41
I finally saw Dustin yesterday. He had to serve papers on a stripper at (god help us) Heartbreakers, a strip club not far from here. He has an amazing scar that goes from one ear to the other, well just about anyway. He looks fantastic. Dustin is my oldest nephew and the first of my sister's children. For the first 12 years of his life he would come at least once a month to spend the night. I would buy him Rocky Road Ice Cream, Pizza Hut and a video and he would stay up at night and eat and watch tv. I think he felt grown-up. Now, at 31 he is most certainly grown-up. This bout with cancer has caused him to rethink his life and he says he feels different. Nothing that has him on his knees professing a new found faith but just a new found appreciation for the little things that he use to count as annoyances. He and his fiance have set a date and are going to go with a traditional wedding which he now happily embraces. So--he's happy, I'm happy and thankful he is alive and well. My sister's family has suffered a great deal in the last few years, no small part of it caused when her second child Nicholas died at 17.
Talking about depressing stuff -- I rented Pan's Labyrinth for me and Riley to watch. Ok, I knew this was a dark 'fairy tale' but I found it very dark. The movie was brilliant and the story was heart-wrenching but the tone was menacing. The fact that it is set during a real historical moment gave it such a sinister feel which is lightened not one bit by the main character which is a young girl. There was no humor, not even whimsy which I kept hoping for. It was an intense experience for me and even Riley, who thrives on macabre and gothic-y themes in her art,reading,and movie pleasures actually looked away from the screen on a few occasions.
I can take a lot of things but violence, real violence leaves me sickened; even when I know it's being 'acted'.
Oh well. So, it's 92 and SC is still in drought along with much of the East Coast. I hate to say this cause it is soooo cliche but, at least it's not humid!
I promised my mother I would visit her tomorrow, I guess it won't kill me.... Actually, I enjoy it once I'm there it's just having to drive everywhere I go makes me crazy. I want to live in a village where you can walk places, but that's not going to happen! It was the one thing I loved about being in Germany and London. You just walked out your door and could walk to the market, or the bank, or the Gausthaus/Pub. Now, we all close ourselves up in our cars with our phones and our Ipods, put on our sunglasses and try to forget we are driving, which it turns out, is a bad thing to do.
Monday, I've set aside to start Riley's Year-end documentation and reporting for this last school year. Pfff- I hate it. I don't know why cause once I start it is never as bad as I think it will be. Then we'll take a month off and start again in July. One of the perks of home schooling is the flexibility, I can't imagine how Riley would have fared in Public School with a rigid schedule, frankly I wonder how anyone learns anything when the learning process is so regimented, especially a child, their attention is captivated by anything bright and shiny. I don't remember a whole lot of 'bright- n -shinies' in school. I do remember a lot of "class settle down" and "I said to get in your seats now!".
home school,
family,
movie