Life support

We brought the daughter home yesterday. It was both a happy and sad time for me. Happy she graduated from college and is coming home to her new life. Sad we had to leave her grandma without a roomate for now. For the last four years her grandma has been at the core of her support as the one who lives only a few miles away from campus. For the last two years Micah lived at her house and commuted to campus. Having Grandma that close by is one of the reasons that Micah finished each semester on time and graduated in 4 years. I often think of and am thankful for the countless trips she made back and forth across the river to picking up and droping off Micah for classes, work and fraternity meetings. Thank you, Carol, we couldn't have done it without you!

Graduation Day

Well, the daughter is graduating from college tomorrow. No small feat considering she dropped out of high school for 3 years and graduated from college in 4. Okay, so she was learning during those years she chose not to go to public school. She actually got her high school diploma by working on courses and taking tests online through a fully accredited program. But she was her own teacher during that time. The courses she liked, she would get through in two weeks. The ones she didn't would take her 2 or 3 months. In all it took her about 2 1/2 years to complete. After receiving her diploma she decided to do a senior year at the local high school just to get back into the classroom and enter the social scene. The school was very cooperative in allowing her to do this and she did very well there. She was about 1/2 way through the year when she started thinking about colleges other than a nearby junior college. She took the ACT and got a decent score and ended up being accepted to a nice Midwestern private college. And 4 years later (has it been that long!) here we are.

I wouldn't advise every kid to drop out of public school. In fact, most of them are probably better off there. Our girl, however, was always a little behind her age in social development and very shy outside our small circle of family and friends. I was so worried she would drop through the cracks socially or be drawn to the wrong crowds. She was perfectly content to stay at home for those years and develop and learn at her own pace. Luckily we live in a state where we could just declare ourselves a private school and we didn't have to contend with the truant officer. Not everyone thought it was a good idea, however. But some of those folks will be attending her graduation this weekend.

No she doesn't have a job and she'll be coming home to live in a house that has spent most of the last 4 years as an empty nest. But she's got a college degree and has spent 3 months in Eastern Asia. She's upbeat, self assured, interesting, and educated. Her dad and I really wish some of her former teachers could be there on Sunday. From her 1st grade teacher who complained that she was too messy and forgetful to her 4th and 6th grade teachers who wanted her diagnosed with ADD. It would be so nice to say, SEE!, See what my baby did!

New treads

The fact that it's still very much a man's world was made astonishingly apparent to me when I blew out a tire on my morning commute on I-88 yesterday. I went out to get in my trusty 2001 Ford Escape and noticed that the left front tire was low, so I searched out a station that had a working air hose (I had to stop 2 places). Putting air in the tire, I noticed that the valve stem was a little cockeyed. Okay. Decision. Do I take it over to Farm & Fleet now and be late to work today? or do I chance getting there today and make arrangements to be late whereby having the tire checked out tomorrow?

So I gambled... and lost when my tire failed at the 107 mile marker. First phone call: My boss, a man (albeit a very nice, mild mannered guy). Second phone call: My spouse, a man (albeit also a very nice, mild mannered guy). Third call: My insurance agent, (also a guy), to get a recommendation for emergency road assistance flat tire fixing. I don't really know what kind of guy my insurance agent is, just that he has the same first name as my brother, Scott, and Scott wasn't in the office yet. Now, before I could even decide who to call next, and not even 5 minutes had passed, an Illinois state trooper was approaching in my rearview mirror. SAVED! By yes, a man. He was very personable and told me I should stay in the car with my seatbelt on while the HELP Truck was on it's way.

I did so, and the HELP Truck arrived in about half an hour. HELP Truck Driver: A man, of course. Though I did spend some time analyzing whether I thought a woman could do the job... hauling the heavy jack off the truck and carrying it to the vehicle in need, getting the lug nuts started, warding off come-ons and sexist jokes from stranded motorists. Anyway, HELP Truck Guy (actually I found out from the paperwork that his name is Doug) cracks a joke first thing after looking at my tire and says it's only flat on one side. I thought it was a nice ice-breaker and he got there soon enough that I wasn't actually late for work yet. Doug was very pleasant and efficient, put on my spare, told me how to drive on it, and I was on my way in just a few minutes.

When I got back to town after work I went straight to Farm & Fleet where a nice young man (who was pleasant enough even though very busy) sold me new tires. And then another (you guessed it) man put the new tires on my truck. In the meantime, I called my woman-friend and her spouse (one of the most mild mannered and pleasantly geeky guys I know) picked me up and drove me home so I could feed the dogs and myself while waiting for my new tires to be installed. What would I have done without my little support club of men to help me yesterday? Me, the once-caustic feminist? Thanks guys.