Day in the Life of an Idiot

 
Image: The view of Minnesota Lock and Dam #1 (Mississippi River) from the Minnehaha Dog Park.

I went walking with some friends of mine early Saturday morning at the Minnehaha Dog Park. Not having a dog myself, I had only ever been there as a visitor once or twice before. It's actually quite lovely, if you are cool with random doggos bounding up to you on occasion to check you out (which I more than am.) 

The sky-blue asters were blooming.

Image: A flower growing on the banks of the Mississippi that I initially thought was called fleabane, but is actually "sky-blue aster."

To be fair to me, fleabane is in the aster family, and t's kind of a shame that these aren't fleabane, because fleabane does (to some varying degree of efficacy, which is to say almost none) repel fleas. Obviously, whether or not it actually works, fleabane seems like the perfect flower/weed to encourage in a dog park, doesn't it?  But, these, I'm fairly certain, are actually sky-blue asters, so there you go. They were everywhere along the sandy banks of the Mississippi. One of the few natives in bloom in the dog park. 

Anyway, it was a lovely walk followed by donuts and coffee shared with new friends, whom Shawn and I met at a backyard concert held by the neighbors-across-the-street. Shawn declined to go on the hike with us, being far more "indoorsy.". She stayed home and finished up a few rugs on the loom. 

But, Shawn and I went for our own neighborhood stroll on Sunday. During the height of the heavy lockdown part of the pandemic, Shawn and I used to go on neighborhood walks in St. Paul regularly. I started photographing some of the cool architectural details / nifty houses that I came across, and I posted them on Facebook. I did the same on Sunday, which you can feel free to check out, if we are Facebook friends, otherwise I will simply share this one very TERRIFYING bit of sidewalk poetry that we came across. 

 Today we drove from Valparaiso, Indiana, to almost Buffalo, NY. Shawn took a picture in each state for us.  To be fair, they are almost indistinguishable from one another. 

We started the trip in Indiana....


Image: The exciting Indiana Interstate

Then, we were in Ohio for what felt like FOREVER.

Image: The exciting view of the Ohio Interstate

We cut through a very short part of Pennsylvania, near Erie. Basically we were on I-90 the whole way.


Image: The exciting view of the Pennsylvania Interstate

Then, finally, NEW YORK STATE....which is where we are now, just outside of Buffalo.


Image: the exciting view of the New York Interstate

That's a lot of road, but we are almost there. Another six hours of driving tomorrow. 

 I got up early this morning to take the car in for its check-up. We are T-2 days for launch. I just got the call and they are going to do their best to fix our air-conditioning. They already did an oil change and are replacing and rotating tires, and giving me new front brakes. The bill will be hefty and Shawn won't like it, but the car will definitely be road worthy after that. 

One of the reasons I picked this particular auto place--besides the recommendations from friends, of course--was because it's on a fairly easy bus/train line from me. Unfortunately, the bus runs straight down Snelling (out-of-town friends, just think major thoroughfare.) Normally, this makes the trip fast.  But, I kind of forgot that today is the first day of the Great Minnesota Super Spreader, aka the State Fair, which is right on Snelling.  The bus crawled almost as much as my skin, as I watched all those maskless people amassing. You can feel free to yell at me about how outdoor events are safer, but I will remind you that they could literally track the explosion of cases from Sturgis. And, like Sturgis, the main event might be outdoors, but there are going to be indoorish places to buy beer and food and I don't know? Are the craft barns open? I did see a giant pumpkin being delivered, so I can only imagine so.

A big enough viral load and we all get overwhelmed....

I mean, can I point fingers? Only if I remember that most of them are pointing back at me. We are choosing to travel across the country to deliver our child to a university. At least Wesleyan is requiring proof of vaccination and masks indoors. I have no idea how that works in a dorm, but I presume you just kind of have to have your floormates as a pod. I don't know. That's the crazy, risky part. We are trying to mitigate what we can. I'm grateful a booster is coming. And, selfishly, even though Mason is lucky enough to be one of those people who did FINE with distance learning, I would like him to have the in-person experience, particularly at the university level. 

The other thing that has me stressed is our eldest cat, Ms. Piggy. She's 21. Until a couple of days ago, however, you really would not know it. She's had the Katherine Hepburn head shake going on for some time, so you'd know she was OLD, but she could hop up and move around like a kitten. In the last couple of days, she's been having a lot of trouble moving.  She's still eating and drinking like a champ. She's been trying to make it to the box, but last night she just let loose on the floor next to the box right during dinner. We have a piddle pad? But, it's clear her hips are just not up to even the shallowest jump right now. 

We have cat sitter coming to live-in while we're away, which makes me feel somewhat better. This person has cared for Piggy before, but I am going to need to write an addendum pre-absolving the cat sitter of any guilt should Piggy pass while we're away. I mean, she's a tough old lady? But, did I mention that she's TWENTY-ONE??

Yeah. 

Mason is mostly packed. I feel pretty good about the amount he's bringing. Shawn joined the Wesleyan parents Facebook page and there are people trying to send PALLETTES of stuff. We also watched our across the street neighbor load up a U-Haul for his kid. We're going to have a stuffed trunk? But, that seems reasonable in comparison, I think. I mentioned that he's getting a single, so that's kind of nice. He can decorate however he wants. 

His best local friend showed up last night in her car and they went off for ice cream together. She's going to Seattle, and him to Middletown,. Connecticut. They're going to be an entire country apart. 

On the other hand, this is the big moment that parenting is all about as far as I'm concerned. His own life begins! I have to be honest, I have jettisoned a lot of my memories of high school. I had one friend that I still sometimes miss, but I attempted to visit her at her college during one of my breaks and... it was awful, partly because I came head to head with the fact that I had a massive crush on her and the fact that she was in a serious relationship with a guy just about broke me. I came out only a few months later. She ghosted me after that... and that was probably actually a reasonable response in retrospect. I was deeply hurt at the time, of course. She never goes back to high school reunions and neither do I. I mean, I went back to my five year? Mostly because I'm an asshole and wanted to come out to everyone. I brought Shawn. People didn't recognize me with my hair short and with no make-up. It was actually kind of fun. No regrets. 

So, I mean, for me, the friends I made in college were the ones that lasted? 

I hope its the same with Mason.

 So it begins....

Today my wife and I went to the bank to set up an account to pay for Mason's college. 

It's hard to believe we're here already. I remember once, years ago, when Mason was still in a stroller. I was getting really, really sick of strangers saying to me, "Cherish these days! They grow up so fast!" At the time, I remember smiling and nodding, but thinking "OMG, COULD THEY??" because it takes months before infants learn to SMILE. I found all the work with no smiles to be a lot. I mean, I knew it was worth it? But, I was really, really looking forward to now. When the little bundle would actually be interesting. 

It seems as soon as they are completely interesting, it's time for them to head off into the world. 

We'll be taking him to Connecticut at the end of this month. Shawn still hasn't determined the exact day we'll be leaving, because... I don't think she quite wants to deal with it?  Even though she's just as excited to see him off as I am. I mean, we'll miss him, but this is such a great time in a person's life. 

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind today.

You?