Welcome, Fall

Last week TV began it's fall season. And much like when I reread my blog, I found myself trying to remember what was going on last May.

• Why was Jax's wife (doctor-what'shername) in jail? (Sons of Anarchy) 
• Were Juliana Margulese and Will getting together or was she sticking with Mr. Big? (The Good Wife) 
• Did the oldest kid actually go off to college? (The Middle). 

Modern Family is so funny that the plot doesn't really matter. I can just turn on the TV and watch.

Fall knitting season has started (a WIP - work in progress)

If only life were like that.

May seems about 5 years ago. N was struggling in school. C was busy with lacrosse and T spent many weekends chopping wood. I worked 45-50 hour weeks, but really loved my job and laughed every day at work.

Fast forward through a chaotic summer. The highlights:  

• a disappointing vacation 
• I chaired my high school reunion - aka the world's most thankless job 
• only spent 1 day at the Jersey Shore (another day we left after two hours when it started to rain) 

Our big news came at the end. The last straw broke my final hope for C in public school, and I pulled her out. My decade struggle with the district ended after a single conversation. Sometimes you just know: I had to put C into private school. She's now at Rutgers Prep. 

Bye, dreaded school bus. C has to get a ride now.

What happened?

Mediocrity for the middle mixed with the seemingly district-wide notion that only certain top-tier students deserve to be treated like they are college-bound. Specifically, we had an incident with the guidance counselor when we went in about changing C's schedule. Here's how I explained it in my letter to the district (excerpted):

"I asked the counselor about college planning. She said they don't do much until after they have the PSATs scores to guide kids to see what "kinds of schools" they can aim for. I asked the counselor if it was better to have lower grades in honors (i.e. harder) classes or to have higher grades in academic ["regular"] classes.

The counselor said it didn't matter since C wasn't looking at top schools. C should just work on getting good grades.[...] We are certainly considering very competitive colleges. (Or at least not ruling them out).

I find it highly inappropriate for a guidance counselor to discourage a 10th grader from thinking about college when a parent asks about college preparation."

A representative of the district answered this letter by saying that she wished I had given her the chance to fix this before pulling C. I responded with a curt, I've contacted the school many times, and you've never helped with a single appeal. 

So now we have one child in district and one child in a local private school. So far it's been a good experience for C, although she misses her friends at BRHS.

What else is new?

Since May I'm now the parent of two teenagers. No more babies. No more little kids. I miss having them.  

Sharing life: We took Dad to Brooklyn.

I also miss blogging. I miss sharing my strange life with strangers and friends. How can I feel disconnected from people when I don't know who most readers are? 

It was my first summer where I worked full time in a decade. I can't deny I missed spending the summer in the sun, but I enjoy my colleagues. Most of them are bright, compassionate, interesting and dedicated writers and artists. Here are a few of their sites: Andrea's, Evelyn's and Haydia's. Come cool portfolios? How about Jeremy, Jim and Gregor? My talented work buddies inspire me every day. 

Welcome, Fall. It's knitting season (every season is knitting season but this is PRIMO knitting season). Time to make soups, time to sleep well through cool nights. Time to read good books (I finished "The Boy in the Suitcase" yesterday) and drink coffee with faux-pumpkin flavor. Time to curl up on a sofa under a blanket with the dog . Time to challenge my brain by helping my kids with homework.

Time to blog again? Let's hope so.