September 4, 2008

Family Update

Ben is doing fine. (Thank you for asking.) His dry sense of humor is alive and well. A couple of weeks ago he greeted Abe at the car with a slew of water balloons. It was a riot watching them run all over the front yard. Abe was soaked.

I smiled thinking about it until a few days later when Ben lobbed a water balloon at me while I was sitting at my laptop. I was apoplectic until I caught it. He had put it in the freezer until the ice was about a quarter inch thick and drained the rest of the water with a pin prick. Nicely done. Perfect size and weight for giving your mother a heart attack. I’m planning revenge as we speak.

Yesterday, Ben asked if it cost extra to send “kissy-puppy icons” with a text message on his cell phone.

Wait. What? “Kissy-puppy icons?!”

“Well…yeah. See?” He proffered his phone to show me an animated big-eyed puppy pursing its lips.

“Oh. My. Gosh. You are so in love.”

He just smiled. He spends pretty much every waking minute at his girlfriend’s house.

School’s something of a challenge, especially with an inflexible math teacher, but Ben’s dealing with that himself, asking the administration to make it right so he can learn. You go, boy.

We’ve had a couple of dustups about limits, but we’ve talked them through, which is new for our family. Still demanding raising a teen, but these are standard challenges.

Sheba’s taking the year off from school. She’s found an apartment in the same college town and her roomie is her former college roommate. She’s looking for a job, which isn’t easy in a town filled with students who will work for minimum wage. Let’s wish her luck.

Things are looking normal, which is such a gift these days. Normal—but never boring.

9 comments:

bigislandjeepguy said...

i think a lot of people equate normal with boring. personally, i don't need things stirred up to feel like i am living life.

glad to hear things are going well!

Rox said...

Happy to hear things are just peachy keen in your family! That's awesome news!

Greg said...

OMG, what a trick with the water balloon. Kudos to Ben (tho I understand your possibly not wanting to pass those on). Of course, you realize that poor Abe's ambush was all a set-up to get you in the right mind-set to be fearful for your laptop when your turn came.

Best of luck to Sheba. It can be a challenge to be a worker ant in the same place where so many of your generation are emulating more social creatures. I'm sure she'll do well, though.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Sounds like things are going well, I hope it stays that way for you. I also hope you are greeted with at least one water balloon, ha ha yes I'm bad.

Kissy-puppy icons, awwwwe that is so cute, young love.

THIS IS ME....ONLINE said...

You guys almost sound like the Cleavers now. That's great.

The water balloon fight will be a favorite family memory that Ben will keep forever. You probably will, too. Never heard of the part about freezing the water balloons. Pretty clever. Hope my sons don't hear of it!!!

Joe Jubinville said...

They don't call it puppy love for nothing. Ben saved you the trouble of your morning cardio...

Wishing Sheba lots of luck. If she's as bright and determined as her mother, she'll be fine. But I heard this morning that the U.S. lost another 75,000 jobs.

Four more months!

Patrick said...

Oh wow: frozen water balloons and puppy love icons. Yeah, that all sounds like a change for the better, though I'm with you on the puppy icons. He's got it bad.

It sounds like Ben is doing a fine job of translating the skills he learned this Summer to his present situation. I know that was the point and all, but it seems like it would be an easy step to miss. So, kudos to him, to all of you. And yes, I'll be sending Sheba all the good luck vibes I can.

Bill said...

Normal is vastly under-rated these days.
Congratulations.

Java said...

This is one of the most encouraging things I've seen in a while. Congratulations to you and the whole family. May it continue :-)