Upon rising from my slumber this morning, I was somewhat surprised to come face to face with the two teary eyed little girls. I immediately thought that perhaps they believed the apocalypse had cometh because this summer's ever present wind and rain had temporarily forsaken us. Kendall and Avery must have reasoned that this was "the calm before the storm" and that the life ending meteor, the final flood, or the fire that finishes us was imminent. I splashed some water on my face to give me a chance to rethink the situation and to try to come up with the fatherly thing to do. Upon reflection, I realized that my kids are fairly level headed and not usually prone to such outlandish thinking. It had to be something else.
A quick check of the Internet didn't provide the explanation that I was seeking. Miley Cyrus hadn't joined a cult (at least not yet), nor had Selena Gomez suffered a permanent case of laryngitis. None of the kids' icons were doing anything that would be considered abnormal for such Hollywood types. As a father of preteen girls, I resorted to the last course of action available to me - I asked them what was wrong.
It turns out that neither girl is too enamoured with the idea of going to swim camp this afternoon and for every afternoon this week. What's up with that? The girls love swimming and are even active members of a competitive swimming club from September to June. It's not like the swim camp was a surprise. We signed them up months ago. They even know some of the instructors and will probably see several of their swimming friends there too. So why the big alligator tears? Such emotions are alien to me. These girls are only 9 and 11 and there have been no signs of the "big change" that will eventually come to them, and indirectly, to me.
Kendall and Avery have enjoyed their time off from school, perhaps a little too much. Kendall can sleep like there's no tomorrow - late to settle each night and loves lounging until well into the morning. Avery has had more face time with the computer this summer than Charlie Sheen has had with his psychiatrist. If the on-line kids' game called Fantage ever goes public, I'd suggest buying a few hundred shares. It will put Microsoft to shame, as it is more addictive and I was even convinced to doll out some cash to the company so Avery could have an upgraded membership. Their mother and I have always tried hard to ensure the girls were adaptable and acceptable of change, but perhaps we've fallen short. I guess the kids were banking on living it up until they had to head back to school in the fall.
Lynda was gone to work while I was tackling this morning's emotional crisis, but thankfully, Grammie was able to lend a hand. Her specially prepared Bologna sandwich for Avery and a few words of encouragement to Kendall helped get the ship righted. I also had the perfect speech all prepared and practiced. One that would help Kendall and Avery see that the "doing" part of life is actually the best part. The motivation for my speech came from the fact that after being "retired" for a while, I'm heading back to work next week. I got a full time, but temporary position with the provincial government that will keep me out of trouble until next spring. Like the kids, my days of lounging and Googling will also be severely limited, so I understand their angst. I told the kids that how they are feeling now is exactly how I will feel next Monday when I have to go to a real office for the first time in a long time. Instead of feeling anxious, we should think of it as being an adventure and that we really are lucky to be able to go to a swim camp and to go to work for the provincial government.
What a load of baloney! The kids seem to have bought it though. They were both in good spirits when I finally dropped them off at the pool this afternoon. Well, at least they seem to have bought the part about being fortunate to be able to go swimming and playing with friends. I doubt they were too convinced about their dad being lucky because he gets to put on a suit and go into an office all day to work. Perhaps when next Monday rolls around I too may be shedding big tears. It is very likely that I will have some reluctance about going back to work. I'm hopeful that there may be a couple of fringe benefits that will make the transition easier: one is that the cafeteria at the Confederation Building serves Bologna sandwiches; the other is that my premium Fantage membership works on the government computers.
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