In one week, the Devon Amphitheater will be open again for business. The band Kansas will be performing, and I’ll be there. The concert was planned for last year, but band members caught Covid and it had to be rescheduled.
I’ll also be going to the Rick Springfield concert and a country act that I think my son would enjoy. He’s a country music fan and never been to the amphitheater before. I might go to a few more shows over the summer. We’ll see.
My Son is Graduating from High School
Next week makes it official that I will no longer be the mother of school age kids. My youngest will be graduating from high school. He plans to go into the carpenters union and learn a trade. Of course, I’m very proud of him, but even more so since he had to overcome a severe speech disorder and other disabilities.
Something that has always bugged me about high school is how honors ceremonies ignore the kids who struggled, yet stayed the course in spite of bullying or fewer accolades. To me, they’re the strong ones. Those are the people you want in your corner when things get rough.
It’s also an achievement to do well in school. I don’t want to take anything away from kids who burned the midnight oil studying for exams and writing term papers. I graduated Summa Cum Laude in college, so I know it’s a lot of work and sacrifice, but also some of the best years of my life. I loved the challenge and thrived on the deadlines, and miss it terribly.
I am happy to say that my son is also an honor student. He’s so smart, he scares me. You don’t want to debate him! He remembers every detail about everything he learns. My mom was that way, too. I’m not like that. I get the big picture but details? Well, I have Google for that.
Wedding Planner?
It’s a common thing that married couples echo the same phrases when choosing a restaurant to eat at. For women, it’s usually the “I Don’t Care Cafe” or “Wherever Buffet”. If I don’t have to cook, and he’s paying, I’m not going to care where we eat. Most women feel the same way. But, I’ve been divorced now for almost two years, and I’ve had to learn to make all the decisions. Now, I have to do all the planning.
My family always joked that my ex-husband should have been a wedding planner. He loved planning parties. His ear was glued to a phone all evening long, every evening.
I’m the complete opposite. I don’t like calling people. My family freaks out when they see my number pop up on their screen because it means either someone is in the ER on life support or just died. I usually don’t call people unless it’s something major. When I do call for some other reason, I can hear the panic in their voice when they pick up.
So, planning the graduation party on my own is new territory. I mean, I did all the work before. He just did all the talking, so it’s not that different, but I just don’t like bugging people. “If you want to come you can, if not, I understand”. “You don’t like me, never have and never will.” I’m thinking. It’s also the reason why I would make a lousy salesperson. I just don’t like being a pest.
In a few minutes, I will be making a few phone calls. I hope I don’t cause a family member to have a stroke.
Kroghetto
I often read the Decatur Tribune and its editor Paul Obsorne’s frequent laments about thoughtless drivers in Decatur. I agree. There are many and they’re awful. My personal angst is Kroger’s in Brettwood Village. I don’t know why I keep going back.
A few evenings ago, I made a quick stop to purchase a few items and noted how trashy it looked outside. I’ve already written about that. But, Lord have mercy, it feels like I’m a time traveler to some horrible science fiction movie set in the future.
If I had been shown the future of my old stomping grounds when I was a teenager and saw how pitiful it would become, I wouldn’t have believed it.
I’m not sure what time in the evening Kroger’s blocks off the “In” door to make it harder for shoplifters to runoff, but I was greeted by a barricade of upside down shopping carts, had to go in through the out door, fight my way through exiting shoppers and the self-checkout, just to get to the food.
I grabbed the items I went for quickly and as I was reaching up for a bag of Hershey’s chocolate, some weird man came up behind me, practically on top of me, and I guess was getting a thrill. I darted out of the aisle, went to the self-checkout, and he ran off to the back of the store. I don’t carry a purse, so he wasn’t trying to steal anything. He was simple a pervert.
There are several security guards in the store at night, but honestly, I think I could win a fight against all of them. They look like they’re in junior high to me, but maybe I’m just old.
Then, I got into the parking lot and the lady parked next to me was dressed like a street walker. I was completely out of my element, while litter blew by me in a whirlwind.
I wanted to go back to my safe world of the 70s, 80s and 90s and flush the 2020’s down the toilet.
I don’t want to put Kroger’s down too much. At least they’re still here. Food deserts are a real thing in cities. Decatur has a large desert of its own.
I think I’ll try the Kroger’s out by the airport, even though it’s a long drive for me. Maybe I’ll just order my groceries from Amazon. Ugh.
