He was quiet as a mouse yet the look on his face spoke volumes. He was scared. I stood by his side, as many of the parents did on the 1st of school. I was thankful that the kids at this new school did not seem to be worried about the un-coolness of having a parent nearby. The parents talked amoungst themselves, while their uniformed kids stood in straight lines like in the children's book Madeline.

His new teacher for the year was among the crowd. Bubbling with enthusiasm, she smiled and greeted each child one by one. Right away, she noticed him and introduced herself and asked for his name. Then she introduced him to some of the other boys in the class. Try as he might, his smile would not come out. They walked in two straight lines and, as the entered the building they did not utter a peep.

At the end of the day, I arrived to a daycare center where the kids did not yell but talked in quiet voices. I have to admit, it was a nice change from the previous center, where the loud noise was deafening. When I saw him playing a game all by himself I began to second guess the decision to change schools. But, when I finally asked him how his day he told me about the many kids that he had played with, some who were even on his football team. He talked about the things that the class was going to do in the school year, including a fieldtrip. He sounded excited. He even reported that had homework and, with pride, he noted that he had it partially completed.

When he wasn't looking, I pulled out his backpack to find the 13-pocket portfolio we were instructed to purchase neatly labeled with the various subjects. There was one page of homework completed in his best handwriting in one of the pockets. He also had a new homework planner which had two assignments neatly recorded beside the corresponding subjects.

One might guess that they don't fool around at the new school. I had warned my son that the new school would be more challenging accademically. It appears that I was right. I suspect that we might just get our money's worth out of this investment in his future. By the looks of it, he is up to the challenge.

Continue reading "Back to school" »

Posted by Juls at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

It's been too long since my last blog entry. I have been interrupted every time I have sat down to write.

YaYa's 10th Birthday (Thursday) turned out very nice. His oldest brother came up from Southern California and spent the day with him. While I was at work, they went out for breakfast and then when bowling. They were all leaving for football practice just as I arrived home to put the lasagna in an oven which was programmed to have it nice and hot by the time we returned home. I set the table ahead of time with a table cloth, Grandma F's good dishes, and the special candles given to me (from Tom and boys) at the last birthday where our family was intact. Football practice was fantastic - he was moved up to the next string and there were cupcakes to celebrate the coach's birthday. YaYa had two. We went home for dinner and cake. Then we all played 9 holes of golf in the comfort of my living room - thanks to Wii magic. My cute, Julie-like Mii lost miserably.

On Friday, I attended the funeral of my great aunt. Common to this day, was my knack for feeling lost (whether I truly was or not). The most obvious occurrence was when the funeral procession of cars was interrupted by a single car. Seeing the car, which was unmarked as "FUNERAL," the police escorts left half the procession to find our own way. It was reminiscent of Grandma's funeral only, this time, we were left to our own devices as stop lights, freeway changes, coupled with no body knowing the name or address of the cemetery added to fiasco. Lesson learned: Get the name of the cemetery (and address) before going to the car. *sigh* You'd think that we would have learned this from Grandma's funeral.

The reception that followed was rich in traditional food from Guam, as well as a whole lot of people who had a remarkable similarity to me. Do to a VERY large family (my grandfather was 1 of 10 siblings), I was introduced to A LOT of relatives - some for the 1st time, and many others from many times prior. My phrase of the day was, "Tell me how we are related to each other." Days later, I am still asking the question as many of my cousins and 2nd cousins hook up on Facebook. It's a pretty awesome task to try to put it all together.

On Saturday, I was unable to join the "team" for our long run. I was a bit disappointed as this run was to be on the Nike course. Still, I knew when I signed up that training with the team would be difficult. Lucky for me, I know that I can get 'er done when I need to. I set foot out the door at 6:30 AM and logged 6 of the 18 miles before waking YaYa for football practice. Thanks to some work in my area, my favorite brother was staying at the house and held down the fort while I ran. I hit the streets again at 9 AM for the balance of the mileage. I left YaYa at football, and waved at the coach as I set out to cover ground right from the practice field. I eyed my heartrate carefully after having inhaled my newly prescribed dose of 2 puffs of Albuterol. As I climbed the first long hill I watched in amazement as my heartrate remained at a remarkably low rate.

Continue reading "Busy Mii" »

Posted by Juls at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Today was a day fought with emotions which first became apparent in church. As YaYa tried to lay his head down on my lap in church, I nudged him up to find his eyes welling with tears. He tried to convince me that "nothing" was wrong, but of course I did not believe him. I gave him permission to retreat to the bathroom for a bit and later he admitted that he did not know why he was sad. He could only tell me that he "just wasn't right."

The day continued much in the same way with the emotional unrest waxing and waning throughout the day. Later in the day, YaYa discussed the same feeling of things not being right in relation to his upcoming birthday. We talked openly about how many future "happy" events (i.e. birthdays, holidays, high school and college graduations, weddings, etc.) might have an underlying "not right" feel to them because his Dad was not able to be there with us. We both cried for a bit and then we talked about the things that were "right." I tried to bring out the best of a hard day. We looked through YaYa's scrapbook, and talked about the fun times that we have had.

Finally, we hit the road for a bike/run. The day did not immediately improve, but we were fighting through it together. We were wilting in the heat. YaYa took a spill on the pavement at mile 3. I decided at that point that it was a good place to turn back right there. On the return trip, we stayed a little closer together, and took breaks together. Stopping to split a gel packet and watch the fishermen, we took our time coming back.

Afterwards, there was just enough time for a quick dip before a birthday dinner with GrandMa and GrandBill. Hopefully, the hardest of the birthday emotions are behind him. I cannot tell you how hard it is to see my boys struggling like this. It isn't right, but it is what it is, and we're just going to have to get through it.

Posted by Juls at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)