RANDOM TOPICS

It was unexpected to see all three kids today. During a time when they should have been in school. They were approaching the clubhouse at the apartments shortly before noon. I was on my way to the office to do some work and then to run a few errands.

The explanations for the wandering away from school grounds were that there was an off-period class for my oldest and a study period followed by lunch as the explanation for the younger two. I then continued on my way.

Cinnamon texted and called after school to ask if she and Sage could go to the Halloween trunk-or-treat event. The one which was being held at the school parking lot and started at 17,00h. I agreed they could go until 18,30h. Half an hour before it ended. I reminded her of the project we still needed to work on. She said they would stop by to drop off their backpacks before going to the event.

I had just put in a new batch of chocolate chip cookies for when they came home. The cookies would still be waiting for them later. I quickly wrapped up four of the cookies so my son could give them to his friend who would be leaving for New Mexico at the end of the week. She is moving away for several months, but plans to return before the end of the school year in the springtime.

Once my son and daughter returned home later in the evening, I gathered the necessary ingredients acquired during my having run errands today and helped my daughter complete her assignment. My son went to his room to work on an art project. A movie poster. I noticed the face paint he got at the event had nearly disappeared. Leaving smudges where earlier there was an actual design of a dog’s face. I wondered if he had to pay for the face painting, then found out that Cinnamon paid for it.

Cinnamon started with the ground beef filling and then made the guacamole, taking photographs along the way. After the additional ingredients were placed on the table, she had me take a photo of her with the finished product. Then we ate it.

We had just finished dinner. It was part of a project for Spanish class that my daughter forgot to do earlier. One where she needed to document the process of a Spanish or Mexican meal and then present it to the class. She chose beef tacos.

After clearing the table, we sat and discussed random topics. Including the information that she received at school today about the IB program and how it was presented much differently than her father told her. Now she is actually considering that option.

It wasn’t long until her phone notified her of an incoming call. She glanced at her phone. Her father was calling. Then she remembered that she forgot to tell him she was staying another night. She didn’t think it was an issue staying here one more night as her father was driving her sister to her first concert at Moody Center. The Grey Day Tour 2023 featuring $uicideboy$.

She talked with her father about her plans. About what she learned today regarding the IB program and how his version made her not want to do it. She told him about her plans to go to school overseas and how I was helping her. But for most of the conversation, her father just kept talking about our older daughter. About her failures and how she will most likely not go to college.

Cinnamon was perplexed and agitated, as the topic was supposed to be about her plans. Not about how she should convince her sister to make college plans at the last minute. Something which is supposed to be a parent’s job. Her father kept trying to tell her to listen to him because ‘I’m older than you’. Or the argument that ‘I’ve done it before’. Basically, a know-it-all, as my daughter described it.

At one point, I heard her tell her father that if she wanted him to have a conversation with her, he would have to hear what she is saying instead of always trying to be right about everything. I smiled and was glad that she is standing up for herself. That she is expressing what she wants and placing boundaries.

After ending the phone call, we continued talking about more random topics. Mostly about plans for after high school. I encouraged her to take a gap year, telling her that more students need to do so. That it is not necessary to rush into college, but to take a year to find oneself. Advice with which her father would certainly not agree.

‘You’re independent. I just don’t see you as someone who will let anyone take care of you’, she said. The conversation topic had changed. We further talked about having a reliable and responsible partner. Perhaps not now, but in the older years. She emphasised how we would have to have similar thinking and desires in order for things to work.

We talked about relationships and how some people marry their high school sweethearts and end up staying with them forever. She asked what I thought about that and I told her I wished that could have happened to me. But it did not. She then pointed out that she and her siblings would not be around in that case. And then I told her ‘Everything happens for a reason’. I am grateful for that.