I’m just finishing Olive Kitteridge and I really like it. It’s a series of stories, each of which at least tangentially mentions Olive, who is, by the end of the book, a retired math teacher at the local middle school in Crosby, Maine. She’s married and has one son and is sort of an amazing person. I think the key is that she’s pretty sensitive, as she says of her son Christopher, and she sees a lot, but really has no idea what to do with the result of being so sensitive. “People endure thing,” she thinks at one point, and “Bad things happen to people. Where have you been?” she thinks at another. And that’s sort of what it’s about — horrible things happen, but people generally endure then and go on. But it’s a funny book, and I, at least, really like Olive. Somehow it’s hopeful — people endure things. There’s good and there’s bad and people pretty much persist. Which is, generally, hopeful.
I’ve just come back from Jeanne’s house. Isn’t that funny?
Having never before met an imaginary friend, I have to say it was really fun.
I have to tell you, and I’m sure you know this anyway, that what you read in my blog is an edited version of reality. My kids are great and really really smart, and that’s all true, but they also get medium grades and spend weeks holed up in their room (M) or maybe go off Istanbul and don’t email to tell you that they’ve made it (N) and often do not help with the dishes (K — not technically my kid).
But Jeanne’s kids are just as smart and funny in real life as they are in her blog, and Jeanne is also really smart and funny and also nice. She came and picked me up and we had pizza and hung out and I met all of her animals, except the hermit crabs, and saw her entire basement full of books.
And now I’m back. M is off again, sleeping in a dorm, probably contracting H1N1, and I’m feeling a little tired. M is handling all this fairly well, but I had a feeling at one point this morning that I could not play the interested, reasonable, non-helicopter parent for one minute longer and that probably for the last few hours had been grinning like one demented.
I have just one thought, though — I’m going to go home and put the lawn in.
If it weren’t for that, I’d be pretty eager.
(Thanks for dinner, Jeanne!)
Actually, I’m not that far north, as north goes, and it’s not even that cold — in the 30’s I think. M is spending the night in a dorm and I’m rather gloriously enjoying having an evening all to myself. I drove around a bit (it was raining) and then came in and read and had a glass of wine (I’m at a B and B), then walked downtown to get a bowl of soup and now I’m thinking of getting in to bed and reading a bit more.
I’m reading Olive Kittredge, which I’m liking. My mother read it and liked it. She laughed when she told me, and I’m thinking it’s because Olive reminded her a bit of my grandmother (who also read it, and didn’t much like it. Hmph.)
Anyway, I’m sharing the B and B with a woman who is visiting her son at another school in town — a Lutheran school named after the patron saint of Norway. She seems to be quite unhappy with it. She compares it unfavorably with Colorado College, where her other son is. I think she actually sounds like me on the subject of LUPS. There is apparently something very wrong with the swim team, and it generally sounds like sort of a stiff and rigid place. So that’s the update there — you’re welcome.
To tell the truth, I’m a little bit bored. When I made a similar trip with N I drove town to LL Bean and went shopping, because they are open 24 hours. But I think I was a little bored that time, too.
It’s an odd feeling . . .
M and I are about to head out on another college visit trip.
It’s always so hard to get ready to go — I’m not sure why. K’s staying home, so he can feed the cats and deal with any stray emergencies.
All I really have to do is pack.
If in addition I manage to water the plants and clean the house, that’s better, but if not it’s not the end of the world.
Right?
Okay. I’m packing.
I am tired.
Great success with the 90s outfit — apparently I have learned to sew, because the dress — a black short dress with flowers all over it — actually looks like something a person could just wear. Better than costume grade.
The red and gold outfit — that was today — was amazing. We found shiny red and gold material and M made a sort of halter top out of the gold and I sewed a skirt out of the red and together they were really something, especially with red sneakers, red legwarmers and red and gold shiny mardi gras beads. Blinding, almost.
But now I’m tired and I want to go to sleep . . .
In further news, and I feel sort of, mmmm, well, not admirable, even sharing it, but M took those horrible college tests a few weeks ago and got the amazing magical number on one of them. N got one answer away from the magical number on the math one and now M actually got the magical number on the reading portion. This was completely unexpected since she isn’t exactly a stellar test taker. What I immediately thought was that her college choices might change a bit. Or not, but it makes it all seem a bit easier. Then I thought, and here’s the part that’s really not admirable, “Aha! my kids must be pretty smart after all!” And I felt redeemed that poor timid dyslexic M actually got this magic number — which I never even got, and I’m actually a good test taker. But I also felt redeemed in that there are all these nutty people who are desperate to get their kids in here or there, desperately going so far as to start magazines for their children to insure that they will get into this special college blah blah blah that the parent wants, and not that I am not desperate myself in my own special way, but I really do think for me it’s been about what would be good for M, and where would she feel happiest, and look! She got the magic number! She must be smart after all.
See, not really admirable. (But she got the magic number!)
- We had an old friend over for dinner last night. I admit to being somewhat crabby about this, as it’s kind of hard to have people over during the week, the house was kind of a mess, we’ve got Spirit Week and a billion other things going on, etc., but then it actually ended up being sort of fun. So. I retract my crabbiness. Also, the kitchen table is now cleaned off and available for use! No more cramped dining under the shadow of college catalogs and gardening tools mounded at the far end of the table! All chairs in the living room now operable and not covered with newspapers, sweaters, blankets and knitting! No more boxes to be recycled heaped in the dining room! It’s a little bit startling when you walk through quickly.
- That may be the only note, as I can’t really remember what else I was going to say.
- I’m going home early to sew the 90’s dress TM. Can you believe that the 90’s is considered an historical decade? It is so recent that I can’t really even remember it. In fact, I am pretty sure that there are items I still wear regularly that were purchased in the 90s. Maybe I should make M go to school wearing the striped turtlenecks and sweatpants she wore back in the 90s. With two long red braids. She was pretty cute, to tell the truth. She also had some pretty cute hanna anderson dresses and tights. That’s the 90s to me.
- A friend of M’s is in the hospital with all kinds of complications from an infected tattoo. Can you believe it? Apparently his mother didn’t know about it when M, trying to visit him at the hospital, asked her if the mystery disease might have been caused by the tattoo. Tattoo? the mother asked. Very lucky that we were paying close attention during the episode of Grey’s Anatomy where just this thing happened, don’t you think? Sheesh. (Also, why on earth are teenagers so stupid — a topic for another time.)
- Lunchtime.
I believe I have beaten back several wild things, but the problem is I’m in the middle of the woods and just because they aren’t at this minute clawing at me does not mean that they aren’t lurking in the blackberry bramble waiting to leap out and bite me.
Huh. How poetic.
Here’s a good thing, though. I cleaned out my closet and it is now 60% easier to get dressed in the morning. I also discovered an old blue cotton sweater that seems to go with an old black skirt with blue flowers, a new and unopened package of black tights, and, up in the attic this weekend looking for backpacks to go with Spirit Week attire, a pair of black shoes I’d forgotten about since the move and which are surprisingly comfortable and not worn out.
So that’s good.
Once I get my dresser cleaned out, I anticipate an 80% rate of easier dressing decisions. To achieve anything higher I think I have to lose weight, and the difficulty of that may outweigh any gains on the easier dressing front.
I believe I have filled out the Russian visa, which meant figuring out when we’re leaving Russia, but that still leaves many difficult decisions about when we leave Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm, not to mention possibly Riga. I did get my picture taken, though, and although it took about 10 minutes, that is a huge accomplishment.
Everything’s like that — M has written about half of three essays. Lawn is ordered but not in.
I guess I should just learn to be okay with being in the middle of things. It’s the fact that these things have deadlines, though, which makes that difficult.
Anyway. Someday I will make it to the end of the woods. One way or another, anyway.
Well, we’ve got big plans around here.
M and I are heading off again on a super secret college visiting trip — please cross your fingers. We’re going two weeks from today.
In the meantime, application essays have to be written, but even before that costumes have to be made and procured for spirit week. What a giant pain in the ass lot of fun!
Work is exploding with goodness, and the organization I volunteer for is exploding with important email conversations. I think there’s more going on, too, but I can’t even remember it.
Oh. Russia. and the lawn — we’ve got to get the lawn in.
I think if we can just get the damn lawn in I’ll feel a lot better. The lawn man is spraying some organic something or other on it today. At this point, I say just use roundup and be done with it.
I know, I shock myself.
I have to run, because I have two appointments this afternoon, which is ridiculous.
The work party, did I tell you about the work party? It actually went well and was fun. You never know how these things will go. I’m wondering if we can isolate the germ of success and then replicate it.
I’m thinking it’s that we ordered the food and did not cook ourselves. Which made it less stressful and thus, more fun.
Anyway. Got to go.
