BR enjoying the Natural History Museum.
SJ enjoying the Natural History Museum
My children, like most kids their age, love video games and youtube. As much as they love to read, they prefer to do or watch. Tis the generation.
Some museums keep this generation in mind as they have exhibits that cater to their preferences. The kids have something to push, a button to turn, a quiz to take. The children get to do something with their hands, and they’re content.
I don’t get out much. Yeah, I shuttle the kids back and forth to camp, do the food shopping, go to the synagogue, etc. But that’s not getting out, not really.
This week I was able to hang with friends. A few of us met up for beers and shared what was going on in our lives, talked about the screwy political season, discussed the latest terror attack, and more.
It was a good time.
After I get home from a night like that, I always promise myself I’ll make more effort to get together with friends. The majority of the time, the only people I see are those individuals who I come across in my daily life. I’m happy to see them and glad for their presence in my life.
So, I try to convince myself that’s just the way it is. And it’s fine. After all, life is busy. Between work and the children and oh yeah, a marriage – who has time to hang out with friends? We all understand that – right. It’s not a question of want to but able to. So, we do our best to keep in touch and that’s cool. Isn’t it?
Maybe not.
Each year BR spends one week at Bubbie camp. Bubbie, by the way, is the Yiddish word for grandmother and that is what all my mother’s grandchildren call her.
This is the 5th year that BR has spent a week with my mother on his own. SJ will have his chance later in the summer.
The first time BR spent a week at Bubbie’s he couldn’t sleep the night before. He was so excited to go on his own. I don’t know how many times I’ve answered, “Yes, it’s just going to be you.”
My mother made plans. At 5:00, the family would gather at our house for a barbecue. Lovely. After all, it was July 4th and barbecuing is one of those Independence Day things to do along with seeing fireworks, having picnics, watching baseball, etc.
But there was a problem. We didn’t have a grill. Well, not exactly. We had the unopened box from Sears with all the parts of a grill.
All we had to do was put it together. My father and I that is.
Now, my father had a number of good qualities that he passed down to me and we shared – love of sports, sense of humor, an appreciation for ice cream, etc.
However, he was near awful when it came to putting things together and doing anything that required tools. By the way, he loved models and bliss for him included putting together a model and painting it (and eating some ice cream as noted above or just about any sweet). Yet putting together anything that was bigger than a model airplane or trane – well that wasn’t a strength of his. To put it mildly.
And I inherited this trait too.