September 00

Friday          September 1, 2000

… Autumn and I went to her Therapy today… we said good-bye to Melbourne, she is moving to a new CCS location in Valencia (I think) We will meet the new Therapist next Wednesday. Myra, the OT, will stay with Autumn. Myra is Japanese I think, and very pretty. Autumn seems to be a little leery of her and Myra has a hard time keeping Autie focused, 30 minutes is about the limit for a session without Melbourne to distract Autumns attention.

 Christy made two trips to the store to shop for clothes Once with Calie & Cindy and once with Mike & Mokie.

 …I took Mike and Christian to soccer practice, Calie wanted to tag along. I dropped the boys off and went around to the schools to get the class assignments, that are posted on the chain-link fence out side the offices… Calie has Mrs. Heilmann (sp), Christian has Mrs. Mileham Cindy is with Mrs. Conant in SDC I don’t know who her homeroom teacher will be. Autumn has Mrs. Renneri (sp) and DaMoke has Mrs. Hickman… the lady I just got upset with for locking up the school parking-lot gates while we were still inside at soccer practice… Oh well, I’ll apologize I guess. I know better than to try to get a teacher to break the rules, no matter how stupid the rules are… When I got back to the soccer field I discovered that there was nobody there for Christian… the coach was on vacation.

 Saturday      September 2, 2000

…Cops paid a visit to the neighbors this morning… Mike was going to spend the night there last night, I told him NO. I have no idea what’s going on and it’s none of my business I guess, I have a tendency to want to get involved because Mike and Christian spend a lot of time over there… the Dad apparently has some coping problems… Mike says he is treated well over there and has no problem with the Dad… I worry though

Mike talked to them… apparently there was someone over at the neighbors property… a wrecked trailer… he was coming onto their property… they called the cops… If it’s the owner, they did the right thing… he’s a scary guy

 Sunday        September 3, 2000

…I watched football off and on all day… the last one between the Titans and the Patriots was a pretty good game, Packers had a chance to win too but Farve’s arm is wrecked… he needs time off and Physical Therapy… he won’t though, too macho, He has tendonitis, it is extremely painful and saps your strength… I have it.

Experience is the comb life gives you after you lose your hair.

Judith Stearn

Monday,      September 4 2000

… More last minute shopping for cloths and school supplies. Poor kids, they didn’t have much of a summer vacation. Either did Christy and I… seemed more hectic than the school year…

 I watched almost all of the Ram – Bronco game on MNF Dennis Miller, the new “color commentator” seemed pretty nervous and didn’t make much of a contribution… he will get more comfortable as the season rolls on I hope… Al Michaels seemed to be having a hard time adjusting to Dennis too, I had expected them to be a little more polished… it was an excellent game, neither team deserved to lose… the Broncos are a tough team… but the Rams are really awesome… if they stay healthy they should be in the Super Bowl again in 2001.

 Well the kids surprised us and went to bed early. Christian, Mokie and Mike woke up about 2100, they are excited about going to school and couldn’t sleep, they watched a cartoon and went back to bed at 2200. They all have their school cloths in a pile at the end of their beds, all their backpacks are packed with new supplies, I will get pictures of them before we go to school, I have been taking pictures on the first day of school every year since Mike started pre-school in 1992… they are filled with so much excitement and promise at the beginning of the year and such disillusioned apathy by the end… I wish I could fix that…  It’s probably not something I should think about too much… I’d probably get depressed… and then I’d get angry. As much as I root for the school to finally get past the regimentation and bureaucracy and start motivating kids I know it’s a hopeless cause. American Schools are a cumbersome quagmire of micromanagement. The teachers can’t do their jobs because they are hamstrung by unnecessary rules and regulations, and reports on the rules and regulations that ensure that the rules and regulations are being followed, the administrators are administrating with budgets that are less than half of what they need, School boards are being pressured to adhere to standards that are arbitrary and inanely frivolous. It’s become a Lewis Carroll nightmare… I wish I were competent to home-school but I’m not… besides it would put me round the bend. 

Christy and I talked to Mrs. Renerri (sp) today, she is excited to get Autumn in her class… I sure hope this works out…

 Tuesday      September 5, 2000

…Well I got all the kids to school on time and then we got Autumn ready for her first day of school… I was OK until it was time to leave her there. I had a worse time than she did, she waved and said Baaa-eee! She is such a total innocent and I am so totally clueless about what is right for her… I have no idea where she needs to be and all the experts are just as naive as I am. The trouble with caring for Autumn is we won’t know whether or not we have done a good job until after the job is done… The trouble is, we have no idea what we are dealing with… Autie has had severe brain damage, nobody knows how bad it is, what she is capable of, what she will be capable of and what she will never be capable of. I thought Cerebral Palsy was a definable thing and in a way, I suppose it is, it’s; “Something is wrong with her brain" most of the wires (synapses) got ripped out and they were put back together in a helter skelter jumble. She will only improve” we were told by the Kaiser Neurologist “How much, How fast, in what areas… we can’t even guess”

 So anyway… Autumn had a ball at school, the teachers and aide were raving about her, they assured me that all my concerns were for nothing… so why do I feel so disheartened about this whole deal.

 Christian had soccer practice followed by Calie’s dance followed by Mokie’s soccer followed by Cindy’s dance, yuck… I think I am going to learn to dread Tuesdays…

 Wednesday September 6, 2000

…Wednesday is no better, it has me running all day… it will be easier when Christy’s teaching assignment ends… Christy took Mike to school because he starts at 0800, and I took the rest of the kids to school; Mokie starts at 0820 and the rest at 0840… Autumn doesn’t start till 1110. Autumn’s Therapy was delayed till 0930 because of some logistical  I dillied and dallied as long as I could and still got there about 20 minutes early… we played on the swings till they were ready for us, we met the replacement for Melbourne, her name is Janet “Call me Jan”. Jan is a little older than I had expected…I won’t hazard a guess, I’m crazy but I’m not stupid… after all the school and soccer practice I had to take Mike to a Referee meeting… it was utter chaos, the chief ref had had written three weeks worth of schedules and just sort of threw them on the table… the people who had been there before pounced on them and filled up the first two weeks before Mike figured out what was going on… He got three games out of three weeks and he has to work three games to pay for his uniform… I am sure that he will be called to work more games because of illness, attrition and apathy but there needs to be a better way

Thursday     September 7, 2000

 The news above distracted me, I managed to get Autumn to school on time but barely… I had to ‘change’ her and put on clean clothes, I didn’t have time to put her braces on… when I got to the school, there was no aide waiting so I took her in, I met Jan at the door…

Friday          September 8, 2000

… Christy and I took Autumn to Therapy… we got her there early and they took her…

Mike and Christian had soccer practice…

Saturday      September 9, 2000

…The whole day was a ‘Chinese Fire Drill’ (Anybody know what that phrase’s etymology is?), We got to the field for the Parade at 0730, there was a huge crowd, 320 soccer players and their families… really impressive, the parade went well. Some fella got up and sang The Star Spangled Banner about as good as I have ever heard it sung… a little bit country but very professional… I will try to get his name… They started taking pictures at 0900, about an hour late, the games went off a little late but by shortening the halves of every game by five minutes they caught up to the schedule… Mike had signed on to referee a game at 10:00 but it didn’t start till 11:00, that’s when his pictures were being taken so he left the game (He was a Line Judge) and one of the parents took over. He got his picture taken and went back to the game, but his soccer game started without him, one of his own team mates scored the winning goal for the other team… Not a happy day for Mikey… Monica’s team lost but Mokie had fun and kicked the ball a lot, Christian tried hard to yell instructions to her but mostly she just kicked the ball in whichever direction she was facing at the time she saw it… Christian’s team lost, he didn’t get to play much… don’t know why… I will talk to Mike Bunce when I see him… if there is something going on I what to know… Calie’s team had a rout… 9 – 3… Calie played on defense all game… I never saw the ball get past her, it obviously did… three times… but I didn’t see it… I asked the coach to move her up to midfielder or something… she has complained about getting bored, I think her nose is bent too because the coach made such a big deal about recruiting her and picking her for his team, she thought she would play a larger role…

 After the games we drove to Riverside to see Karen and Blaine, Patti, and Suzie and Gary were there from Henderson, Nevada. Christy Autumn and Cindy had left earlier. We got there about four in the afternoon and stayed till eight… I guess Suzie and Gary are getting some test’s done, an Angiogram for Suzie and I wasn’t clear about what Gary will have done, same thing I think… Gary has emphysema and gets tired easy but he seems pretty fit otherwise, so does Suzie for that matter…

There was no malady.

Sunday        September 10, 2000

 …Today I went to the funeral of the 20 year old son of a man who has been a friend of mine for a long time… he has always been there when I needed him… I have learned to overlook the fact he has an exasperating passion for the Phone Company … he has a mischievous sense of humor and is a compassionate thoughtful friend. The circumstances of his son’s death will forever be a mystery. The pain will dissipate somewhat in time… fond memories most always temper painful ones.

 The funeral was very moving… no vaulted rhetoric… no scripted, impassioned prayers… an honest powerful reflection on the loss of a young man. I wish I were an eloquent speaker, I wish the words of compassion came easily to me, they don’t. The Rabbi spoke for a while, he talked to us like he was talking to a friend, he was obviously wracking his brain for words to comfort the congregation… he was not there because it was his job or his responsibility he was there to be of help… I suspect he is a very nice man… the Cantor sang… she sang like an angel. Then the Mother, Father and Sister spoke. When Bruce spoke about his son, he did it with a strong voice and with a hint of humor… he almost made it through, I don’t remember what he was saying when he lost his composure, because I didn’t even come close, I couldn’t cry for the son because I didn’t know him, but I know his father… I could cry with him. I spoke briefly to him later…   I cried again… damn… I am crying now…

 This is the third time I have watched a father bury his son… it is against the natural order of things… and so, all the more tragic. I was struck by the thought of how fragile our contentment is. No one who loves someone is exempt from the ominous threat of losing that someone… no one. If today, you would treat every one you love as though they would be dead tomorrow, what would you say… what would you do.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. 

We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

--Albert Einstein

 Monday,      September 11 2000

… I hope the rest of the week is better than today… I got a flat tire taking Autumn to school (no they aren’t Firestones), I didn’t realize it was flat till I got to Sierra Highway (‘bout 2.5 miles). I took it to Affordable and spent two hours there… they were swamped… I ended up buying two new tires for the front… I will get the back tires next month… damn things are expensive… which reminds me… the price of gas at the local Union 76 is up to $1.79.9… ouch… Linda, my favorite cashier there just quit too… she asked for a $1.00 an hour raise after being at the same pay for three years and he said “No” She has worked for him since it opened 14 years ago… pretty cold… he just bought a new truck… has to make those payments I guess… Guess I’ll have to go over to the ARCO station… I don’t like them… the Wal-Mart of the gas station industry…

 Tuesday      September 12, 2000

…Soccer for Mokie at the Acton School field… I walked again… two days in a row… I will try to do it again at Christians practice tomorrow…Today is dance class for Calie and Cindy… I watched Cindy dance today, she really enjoys it, she can’t do it very well but she hangs in there… I think she likes to be associated with “Dancin in Acton” it gives her a feeling of belonging outside the family… I hope I can keep her involved there, they are nice people.

 Wednesday September 13, 2000

…Today was what will become a normal Wednesday I suppose. I got the kids to school, stalled for about 15 minutes and then took Autumn to CCS Therapy, I got there about 15 minutes early and they took her about 5 minutes early. I went to the local diner and had breakfast… I couldn’t get a newspaper out of the little dispenser gizmo, It was broken… It’s troubling how such a small thing can irritate me so much… silly really, I like the LA Times, I am used to it, I have read it almost everyday for 35 years, well reading is over-stating a bit… I like the business page, the comics and the crossword, it gives me about an hours worth of entertainment and it only costs a quarter… I had prepared my self for a leisurely breakfast, just me and the LA Times… I had to settle for the Daily News… a pathetic substitute. I finished the puzzle and glanced at the rest of the, it is full of editorials trying to pawn themselves off as News…

I had been to Karen’s Kitchen last week and I couldn’t get a paper then either… I figured the person who fills up the Gizmo would have fixed it by now…but I over estimated his commitment. Just how smart do you have to be to notice that no one has bought a paper in 2 weeks… the guy that fills that thing has a key, every day he takes the old papers out and puts the new papers in… here I go passing judgment again… I wish I could meet him just to satisfy my curiosity.

 I picked up Autumn and took her to the park for about 20 minutes to kill some time… she was thrilled… she climbed the highest slide and I pushed her on the swing… she played in the sand… she is so sweet. I drove to Meadowlark School and arrived about 8 minutes early, her aide wasn’t there so we walked to the playground, about 75 yards, a pretty good trek for Autumn… Mrs. Raineri assumed responsibility for Autie herself and I departed…

 When I got back to pick her and Mokie up I noticed smoke in the hills to the west… Agua Dulce… there was a big brush fire … by the time I got home and turned around to take Christian to soccer the fire was really blazing. When I got home at 1730 it was on the news and a pretty big deal, apparently 3 – 5 homes have been destroyed. Sheryl Covert, a friend of ours has 3 infants, Foster kids. She had gone to pick up her daughter Barbara from soccer early, Barb is on Christian’s team. Her husband had called and said to get home before they blocked the roads, well, she couldn’t get home … the Sheriff’s Gestapo stopped her in Agua Dulce. She said “I have three baby’s at my home who have asthma, I need to get home.” The (Good Little Nazi) said you can’t get through unless you have a horse trailer… she said “WHAT!” he said you can’t get through unless you have a horse trailer. She argued with the little prick and the GLN said, “Lady you aren’t getting through here unless you have a horse trailer”… and finally she just left her car and she and Barbara just started walking… a neighbor picked her up and drove her home… Sheryl’s husband is a retired LAPD officer… he has been out of it long enough to have regained some perspective, he is going to be livid…

 The bus drivers from Agua Dulce School dropped off kids that she supposedly knew were “Latch-Key” kids, parents tried to get in to get to their kids and the Sheriff Deputies stopped them… there were some pretty hysterical parents… I suspect the Sheriff will be dealing with some pretty irate parents tomorrow, I expect that the school bus drivers will have some tap dancing to do too. Not their fault though…

 You can’t talk to cops like they are people, they aren’t people when they are in uniform, they don’t understand us civilians… to cops the only other “people” in the world are other cops… maybe they would deem firemen to be a viable human subspecies but civilians are “Assholes” we cause them endless grief… they hate us, … a cop in the same situation as Sheryl would just flash his little silver suppository and drive on through… I have met cops who were caring, rational and sensitive to the people they were sworn to protect… they have all quit the force or committed suicide.

 Here’s a little story; I was driving home from work, stuck in traffic at the gore-point of the Hollywood and the Golden State Freeway… the line started to move and a lady changing lanes cut off the person in front of me and he evaded her by diving into the carpool lane… a cop saw him, lit him up, and pulled him over… I pulled over too to tell the cop that there was an extenuating circumstance. He saw me coming and put his hand on his gun, I said “I just wanted to tell…” He said; “Get back in your car and get out of here” I said “But…” He yelled “Get the f… back into your car and get the f… out of here,” I shrugged at the guy he had captured… he shrugged back… there is nothing you can do to get through to a bureaucrat with a gun and a badge. Cops are an interesting dilemma, we need them to keep order, we need them to be there for us when we are in trouble, after all, they have guns we don’t. The problem comes when they abuse their power. We have seen countless examples of cops being hooligans when they don’t know they are being video taped, we have also seen them being incredibly heroic. It seems to me that we can have a police force that has respect for the people it is protecting. The Brit’s do, so do the Japanese… why can’t we… it would be nice to wave at a cop and not fear getting arrested for making a threatening gesture.

Talked to "B"

 Thursday     September 14, 2000

… Long talk with Betsy H. about Sheryl’s confrontation with the Sheriff at 76 today… She has an interesting perspective…She is an LAPD Lieutenant, lucky for me I was bitching about Sheriffs. She agreed that the guy was an “I don’t think! I don’t have to! I have ORDERS!!!” jerk.

 Minimum Day for Mokie and Autumn today, that means Autumn goes to school in the mornings… she took it in stride…

 I had a talk with "B" on the phone… he seemed anxious to come home for a visit, even though he got homesick for Devereux the last time he was here…

 Loaded Windows ME… no real trouble it froze once during “file transfer” and once during “system setup” I rebooted and it came right back up and started where it left off. There seem to be a lot of subtle changes to menus and some operations are changed slightly… Just discovered the Wizard for changing the folder views under My Computer… very slick… if you store pictures on your PC the “Thumbnail” view is really nice.

 I went to the ROF, there weren’t a lot of folks there but it nice to just sit and talk…

 Friday          September 15, 2000

…I took Autumn to therapy, Autumn is beginning to be a “Star” there… it’s real hard to keep Autumn from getting under your skin…We took the long drive way to school and were still early.

 Mike put his fist through Calie’s window, cut his finger and forearm. It didn’t need stitches but he looked pretty messed up till we cleaned him up… Apparently Calie threw a rock at him, and he got mad… We have an appointment for him at the Psychologist I think it’s time we got his medication adjusted again…

 Mike had another “Pink (Demerit notice) Slip” from school… this is his third one it’s only the second week of school… this does not bode well for the rest of the year.

 Soccer practice for Mike and Christian… neither wanted to go… Mike is having a hard time coping with day to day things… he was ding pretty good last year. Saturday September 16, 2000

 … Soccer all day today, the Daggett Family is responsible for Snacks for Christian’s team I hate doing snacks. Confrontations with Yuppies … and their offspring… tend to spoil my day, they can make for a nauseating afternoon. “Are these organic oranges?” Did you wash those apples?” “Do you have any sugar free granola? My <insert cutesy yuppie name here>is allergic to <insert cutesy yuppie allergy here>. So tedious… It turns out I was supposed to bring “Snacks” for both Christian and Calie’s teams…I had to make an mad dash to the Acton Store…When I got home I looked through all the paperwork and could find nothing to indicate that I had Snack duty for Calie’s team… it’s really irritating.

 Mike will referee at least one game tomorrow… that will be interesting considering his recent escapades  …

 Well, I was concerned for nothing… He did a good job refereeing Monica’s game and was amazing in his game… Every parent should have an opportunity to hear everyone on the sidelines cheering for their kid… They cheered for Monica, she is the fastest one on the team she hasn’t figured out what to do with the ball when she gets to it but she is fun to watch, Calie is a good defender with a big kick… she was cheered today too… but Mike was just amazing… he set up the first goal with a pass to Casey and he tried hard all game without any complaining, and it was tied 1-1 with a minute to go in the game, he got a desperate pass from Courtney (The coaches son) at midfield and fought all the way to the Goal and nailed it in just before the whistle blew both sides of the field were screaming at him for different reason… a very good game…

 Sunday        September 17, 2000

…I saw the tail end of the Women’s Olympic Soccer team in a 1-1 tie game against China… they are really good… both teams… the Chinese Goalie is just about perfect… she is bordering on superhuman… I will try to see as much of the Olympics as I can… It was a strange day today… hectic & Ho Hum at the same time… I think I am acclimating to this chaos… not much phases me any more…

Laziness is no more than the habit of resting before you get tired.

Jules Renard

 Monday,      September 18 2000

… Christy went with Pat to be with Suzie in Las Vegas, she drove all night and was there when they did the Angiogram (sp)… Suzie is fine…

 I got the kids up, medicated, bathed, dressed, to school, Autumn and I went to Therapy, on the way back I stopped and ordered glass for the window Mikey broke, picked up some dog food and stuff at Wal-Mart got the mail… dropped Autie off at school, had lunch, picked up Autie and DaMoke gave Calie her soccer stuff, went back to Palmdale and picked up the glass and tried to go to Best Buy to get anew copy of Norton System Works but the kids were not behaving so I went home… took Mike to soccer practice we watched him practice, there was going to be no scrimmage so I went home and watched football…Christy was home… went back to get Mike… watched the end of the game… typed this… now I’m going to bed

 Tuesday      September 19, 2000

…I can’t remember what I did today… According to my calendar I mailed a birthday card to my sister… Calie and Cindy had extended dance classes tonight, they are getting ready for the big recital on Saturday… damn shame the soccer coaches are all indignant about the fact the a third of everyone’s team is going to be performing in the Dancn’ in Acton recital at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center… some will have to forfeit games… you would think that with a little town like Acton, that the only two kids organizations in town could figure out how to coordinate their events… I drove kids around from one place to another… all day… I went out to pick up a copy of Norton System Works 2001… I got a notice in the mail that I could get a special deal on it for 59.99 + tax I went to Best Buy and it’s for sale (regular price) for 59.95… what a deal… The Microsoft deal was the same thing… 59.95 for WinME delivered to your door on the 14^th of September… I bit on it… only to find out that I could get it at Best Buy for 48.95… I hate being scammed…

Wednesday September 20, 2000

…I spent the day picking up and delivering kids… Christy is teaching… It’s a Minimum day at Acton School, they got out at 12:50… It was Minimum day at Mikes school too (High Desert) but nobody knew it… if Calie hadn’t spotted him walking out of school he would have had to walk home…

 Thursday     September 21, 2000

… Minimum Day at Acton School again today, Calie is all duded up in her dance costume, Christy is taking her to her full dress rehearsal … She is absolutely adorable… I took Mokie to practice… it is very cold and overcast… I had to take Autumn into the truck and get her warmed up… she was shivering… there is NO fat on that little girl…

 Friday          September 22, 2000

… Cloudy, cold and gloomy day The house was in a cloud (literally) most of the day.  I drove Autumn to therapy; she did well and had a good day at school. Mike and Christian had soccer practice…

 Saturday      September 23, 2000

…Soccer

Calie’s team won 5 – 3

Christians team tied 2 – 2

Mikes team had a bye

Mokie was the hero this week their team won 5 – 2 Mokie scored 2 goals and has permanently moved herself from defense to whatever the soccer equivalent of front line assault troop. She was all over the field pushing and shoving back at the boys who were trying to get in her way… she was a dynamo… If her coach tells her to go guard someone, that someone is guarded by golly…it’s still a good feeling to hear other folks calling out your kid’s name. She took out a kid almost twice her size because he pushed her in the back. It’s a good thing she is only 7… if this sort of aggressiveness goes un-reined for much longer she is going to be trouble, right now it’s sort of cute.

 Sunday        September 24, 2000

…The Packers won their first game, the Women’s Olympic Soccer team won too…

Monday,      September 25 2000

… Christy had a meeting at the college at noon so we were home together with Autumn this morning… After I got the kids to school I came home and tried to catch up on my correspondence, I am way behind… I didn’t make much headway. The van has a coolant leak, I have to take it in tomorrow or the next day… it’s the only vehicle that can carry all of us…I got Autumn to school on time. Acton School called at about 1400 to come get Calie, she had gotten sick to her stomach and barfed in class… I called Christy to go get her because I had to get ready to go get the little girls at Meadowlark…

 I got upset with the harsh drug policy being enforced by the IOC… the little gymnast who got her medal taken away because her team doctor gave her the equivalent of a “Contact”. Ridiculous! Then the sanctimonious fascists released a drug test from four months ago accusing Marion Jones’s husband, C. J., of testing positive for a banned substance, and they waited until the day before her race… he isn’t even in the Olympics, he has an injured knee. My kids can’t take Chap-stick to school because it has been deemed a “medication” the world is getting crazy.

 Mikes coach called again tonight… he wanted to know if we had found a video he had loaned Mike 3 weeks ago… I have maybe 500 to 1000 videos and 6 kids to strew them all over the house… I can’t find the damn thing anywhere. He also wanted to complain to me about Mikes negative attitude… he is cussing too much on the field in practice… his insubordination… on and on… Mike has a ‘tude, always has, probably always will… He hates practice but he is always up for the game … I am not sure what I want to do about him… I feel like I am watching helplessly while Mike throws his tallent into a cesspool. Very few people have been blessed with athletic gifts that Mike possesses… he is only 12; he has no clue what he is throwing away. His coach is not Knute Rockne, I would have a hard time with him too, but he is “The Coach”… you learn to deal with the straw you draw or you drop out… Mike wants to drop out… I suspect his coach wants him to quit too. There was one guy who could handle him, an English fella with a red face and white hair… Mike liked him a lot… I had hopes he would be coaching and pick Mike for his team… but he decided not to coach this year. Mike is a big problem to me… I just don’t know how to motivate him. 

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

Winston Churchill.

 Tuesday      September 26, 2000

…We talked to "B" today… we will pick him up on Friday… It is his (real) birthday today… we had forgotten…When we first got "B" they told us his birthday was September 29^th, then they changed it to October 1^st, then a about 2 years later we were told his birthday was actually October 10^th… then when we started adoption proceedings we discovered there was no Birth Certificate in file so they contacted his mother who had left the dad and moved to Baja… she brought his original Birth Certificate and we found that his official, real, actual birthday was September 26th

Wednesday September 27, 2000

…I got Autumn to PT/OT on time today…

 Christian Soccer, Mike got a “Razor” (Skateboard with a handle on it)

 Adults are obsolete children

Dr. Seuss

humorist, illustrator, and author

(1904-1991)

 Thursday     September 28, 2000

… I pulled up to the front of Acton School, after dropping of Mike and Mokie at their respective schools, Lumpy and Calie had put their backpacks in the bed of the pick-up, watched in the rear view mirror as Calie climbed over the gate to get hers I saw her wave as she jumped off, I didn’t see Lumpy so I assumed he was done and started to pull away and simultaneously I saw a car pull in front of me and Lumpy on the side rail of the truck going ass over tea-kettle when I hit the breaks. I was doing about 2 mph and I stopped instantly but it scared me to death… Damn… he was fine but he hit the curb with his thigh and it hurt… he started to cry. I could tell that he had figured out that this was a cool way to get out of school and he milked it for all it was worth… there was no way I was going to force him to go to school after 50 people saw him fall off the back of the truck. I took him with me to Meadowlark and met Christy and Autumn for our informal meeting with Miss Raineri. We had a good meeting with her, we all seem to be on the same wavelength. Christy took Autumn and Christian home and I went to the bank (Albertson’s Supermarket) to make a deposit…

  The ATM was broken... figures… Back in the “good old days” I would have scheduled about an hour and a half to go to the bank, find a parking place, fill out a deposit slip, wait in a long slow moving line, sign the checks, get a receipt and some cash back. Get back in the car and then go get some coffee or something. Going to the bank was a big deal...now-a-days I allot about ten minutes to banking… all the signing and adding is already done you walk up to the ATM and in about two minutes you’re out'a there… but the ATM was broken… twelve miles to the next nearest ATM and twelve miles back. The other four errands I had planned to run are out the window. I feel anxious and defeated, It is beginning to dawn on me that all these modern timesaving conveniences only raise our expectations to an impossible level and make our day more hectic. Cell phones, microwaves, ATM’s, Pay-at-the-pump, ad-infinitum.

 Acton School called as soon as I got home… Calie was sick, barfed all over her classroom. Christy went to pick her up and took her to the Dr … she is fine, The Dr prescribed some Robitussin may as well pour it in the sink, she won’t touch it.  (Incidentally, Christian was jumping on the trampoline, leg wasn’t too sore for that)

 I picked up the kids at the regular time, Autumn was expecting Mom and a little disappointed… I have been elevated in her esteem to a place somewhere above the cats but not very far above them. Mom is still the single most important person in her life… Calie will miss soccer practice but Mokie had hers from 1700 to 1800. Luckily Christy and Calie were home by then… Christy brought all the kids down to practice at 1730 and took Cindy to see Dr. Boroya the new Psychologist. He modified her medication, she is getting more oblivious and infantile, I am getting more concerned, sometimes it’s almost like she is regressing… and then sometimes she seems just fine. Cindy is still an enigma to me… it’s like drying to deal with three different people…

 Friday          September 29, 2000

… Calie barfed again this morning; she has a low fever so we kept her home… Christy took Calie with her to pick up "B" at Devereux, I took Autumn to CCS for Therapy and made the house payment and dropped off prescriptions at Kaiser, After Therapy I picked up the medicine and drove Autumn to school, I went back to Palmdale to make the Insurance payment and to get the truck lubed and oil changed… it was packed, I go there because you get a good car-wash with every lube & oil-change. It was packed there, usually I am in and out of there in a half an hour, it was a half hour before they finished the lube and there were fifteen cars ahead of me in the carwash line, so I got a rain check and bailed, I had to pick up Autie and Da Moke (I will not be calling her Da Moke any more, I had a flash of a memory that moke is a real word, I looked it up… a “moke” is an exceptionally ugly horse… who knew…)

 Mike had practice tonight, all went well… sort of…his tongue was bloody (figuratively speaking) from biting back all the inappropriate things he wanted to tell his coaches… Mike really struggles with his personality, it’s his worst enemy and he doesn’t know what to do about it (nor do I)

 Saturday      September 30, 2000

…Today started by loading Mike, Christian, Calie, "B" and Monica into the truck to go to Calie and Christian’s soccer games, they were both playing at the same time on different fields. After three or four fitful starts I finally took off, I got about ¾ of a mile from home and realized I had forgotten my wallet so I turned around and went home, I ran into the house and grabbed my wallet and jumped back into the truck, there was still plenty of time so I wasn’t in a big hurry as I drove down the driveway I felt and heard a thump, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that I had just run over the puppy… the puppy was on the hillside when I drove by, it must have run down the hill as I passed by… Calie and Christian went bananas... "B" got very angry with me, Cindy came out of the house and ran up to the puppy and looked at it and yelled at me… I knew it was dead… it wagged it’s tail a few times, and died ... I put the dog in a box and got the kids out of there as soon as I could… the logistics of getting everyone where they were supposed to be and the games took the kids minds off the puppy… Christian was still devastated but he played a ferocious game of soccer…

 Calie’s team won, Christian’s team tied, Mike refereed an “Under Six” game, they are fun to watch. We went home to find Mikes uniform and got lucky and found it in about 5 minutes… Mike changed in the truck and we made it to his game. Mikes team won a tough game, Mike played defense most of the game he blocked at least 8 potential goals while he was back helping the Goalie. The coach pulled him to Left Wing and they scored a goal almost immediately, Mike was furious…He stole the ball about 5 times but couldn’t get to the goal, finally he got one over the defense to Court and Court scored the winning goal… Christy came down to watch Mokie’s game and Mokie was a dervish as usual, when the coach says “Monica, cover number 8, number eight may as well take a nap because he is covered… Monica is so cool. They won their game 6 –2. I don’t know if Mokie scored any goals because after I handed out snacks I went over to the other field to see Christian play… Christian’s team lost the second game… they were really outplayed…

 When I got home Mike and I dug a hole and buried the puppy, Mike and "B" made a cross for the grave…

 Mike and Calie had gone shopping with Christy… I took "B", Lumpy, Cindy and Autumn to the Video Store to get some movies to watch, I wanted to take them to the theater but there were no PG movies playing, and the PG13 movies were all “boring” love stories they didn’t want to watch… When we got back I backed the truck up against the dumpster and went around to get Autumn. Apparently I didn’t get the lever into park because just as I reached the porch I heard Cindy yelling “Daaadddyyy!!! …The truck is mooooooving!!!!… I put Autumn down in the dirt and ran as fast as I could to the truck but I was too late… I saw that all the kids were safe all I could do is watch as the truck went down the drive way, across the road, missing the power pole, into and out of a ditch and about 20 feet up the hill on the other side before settling back into the ditch…I taught the kids a whole bunch of words I learned in the Navy as I ran down the hill. I looked the truck over and climbed in, it started right up and I was able to get it out of the ditch with no trouble. I took it back up the driveway and got a light to check it out, I couldn’t find any problem except the plate behind the front bumper that protects the transmission was bent…