Good moments

First, a story from the teen front: Satchel and Will were talking late the other night - and Satchel was telling Will about how he and a co-worker were trying to bean each other with something (socks?) in the warehouse - the co-worker couldn't believe that he could never, but never, ambush Satchel. Satch laughed at him and said, "You didn't grow up with brothers, did you?" Will cracked up on hearing this and nodded - too true! Satchel said that he never goes around a corner without giving it a quick check first, in case someone is lurking behind it. "Really?" I asked, incredulous, "NEVER?". "Yup - I pretty much always check," he answered. Will is laughing out loud now, and says, "I'm so PROUD!" So I guess true brotherly love is teaching the other guy never to let his guard down. Reminds me of Clouseau and his valet...

So as a parent I've learned to take the good moments and savor them when they come, because only too soon it'll be the flu all around, or a trip to the ER, or a call from the principal (I hate those!), or chicken pox AND head lice (that was a bad October)...

We've had a few great moments lately. In no particular order:


Will was recognized by the MCAL coaches with All-League honors - 2nd team, defense - which is a big deal and made him really proud. He worked really hard for his position on the team, and it's nice to see that recognized. When he was told last year that he could stay on JV and play a lot, or move up to Varsity and sit on the bench, he said, "I'll move up to Varsity and prove that I should be on the field, not on the bench," and that's exactly what he did. Sometimes that stubborn streak serves him well... this year he was a starter and hardly ever came off the field.

Satchel passed his OEC (Outdoor Emergency Care) class - similar to EMT, it's the certification used by the National Ski Patrol. He's not sure when he wants to head to the mountains - he's committed to his job through ski season - but he's got one more thing to make him employable up there. And he worked his butt off to do it - full time at his job, plus class in Piedmont from 7 - 10 two nights a week and all day some Saturdays. Not only that, but he got a promotion at his work on the same day he passed his final. I'm proud.


Today, Carson did his housecleaning chore without fighting me - trust me, this is huge. Of course, Reed made up for it by being utterly impossible about his chore (yes, I may have been seen dragging him by the foot out from under the coffee table and standing him up with the vacuum in his hand - it was ugly).

But the good part was tonight. Before you go any farther and gag at how precious this story is, this is NOT NORMAL! But tonight after dinner Carson, Reed and I got talking about colleges. We talked about Evergreen, where Will wants to go, and about Reed College - where, you guessed it, Reed wants to go someday - and about St. John's. Then Carson asked me about philosophy, and famous philosophers... pretty soon Carson was sitting reading Plato's Republic on the couch and enjoying it. "Here's a good one mom - Is it ever right to injure someone? Which is more important, the doctor or the sick man? Which is more important, the teacher or the student?" Pretty cool stuff!

Then Reed, not to be outdone, gets it in his head to look up things in the encyclopedia. He starts hauling them down, and after finding Ancient Greece, and Mythology, (with help, trust me!), he brings down C and finds CAT all by himself, then reads (slooooowly) the first few paragraphs. He's just crossing that borderline between reading as work, and reading as pleasure. It's fun to see. So there I was, Carson on the couch reading Plato, Reed in the big red chair reading the encyclopedia. As I say, that was a first! Big time. But certainly worth remembering...