Epilogue

On Sunday night Levi arrived home after spending some time that day at the zoo and the parthenon in Nashville. The latter is kind of cool because it's we first went there years ago when we realized that location was used in a Percy Jackson movie, a book series he was major into when he was younger. As he told us about his weekend he brought out a shirt and two vinyl records from the band and presented them to me as gifts. I can't imagine anything I could wish for in a son than for him to be out in the world on his own having the time of his life, and to think of his dad.

And I replaced the garbage disposal all on my own this morning. Did it in less than an hour. 

The Most Emotional Day?

It's Sunday morning, I am writing this entry after what I think could be the most emotional day of my parenting life (so far). More on that later, you need to read to the end to find out. Well, you could scroll it you have a finger, but then you'd miss all this stuff.

The period began with a trip to Detroit to meet Geoff, followed by an impromptu Fall mini-RestFest on the boat in Canada.  And the final shot to complete the beers of our lives poster.

 

 

What's this, another trip to Canada? This time with Eva for Fall Break, perhaps laying the groundwork for a permanent move next year. 

 

 

 

 

 Through it all, dogs.

 

  

 

And Caturdays.

Now on to this weekend, and yesterday specifically. But first, don't forget to like and subscribe below. The weekend started with my bride off for a weekend of refueling. So it focused all of my attention on kids and dogs. The dogs, well, they were integral to the Saturday which included some couch time watching football, including a 6-1 start to the season for UK. But mostly the kids. First, on Friday night and a dinner out to our shadow favorite place, Winchells. You see each one has a friend with them. Eva's is well known, but Levi brought a new face to the table and I've never seen him happier. And those same pairings would continue the next day. 

  

But with a twist. Levi was off to Nashville to see a band called Interpol. Nashville is a 3.5 drive, which means - surprise emoji - an overnight stay. The face in this picture below is again an expression I don't think I've ever seen on Levi's face. Combined with him seeming to fire on all cylinders in his first year of college and independent life, it's the transition I guess every parent has to go through. A child developing an independent life outside the home. It's great to see but also sad to think his life will continue to revolve less and less around me. It's what a parent tries to create for the better part of two decades, and it's gratifying to watch happen, but it's still a shock to the system. 

  

 

And thinking ahead to next Fall, I picture the same thing for Eva. So it occurred to me that this weekend is something I need to savor because I'll probably never have a third Saturday in October where I can do this. This day next year, who knows where Levi and Eva will be, but they will almost surely be in a life that isn't what we've been doing for the past decade. 

 

 

After a long lunch we head home, her friend comes over, I put on a football game, open a beer, the kids make a batch of cookies, we order some dinner... it's one of those unremarkable scenarios that has played out any number of Saturdays for the past ten years. This time without Levi. I didn't appreciate this last year when both kids would've been home on a day like this, and now I know it's the last time with just Eva. I know there are new experiences ahead, and I look forward to seeing both of them continue to grow into remarkable adults. But damn it hits hard and I'm not ready to let it go. 

New And Old Pattens

This week was the first competition of the 2026 marching band season. How do I know? I received a post on Saturday around 5pm, a parent post of the first run at the Dunbar Invitational. It was the first time I thought about that world continuing on without us. Saturdays in the Fall have a new vibe. 

Plenty of meals throughout the week with the kids, especially Levi going to and from shifts at his job. Whether the cafeteria on campus on a restaurant in town it's a blessing to have this kind of connection after someone goes away to college. 

 

That different vibe in Fall 2027 sees us in some familiar patterns, and some new ones.

 

 

And mostly familiar patterns at home with pups. But one interesting shift toward dogs being on the same couch at the same time. Can't tell if Rubble is just becoming chilled enough for Hazy, or Hazy just giving up waiting for him to chill. 

 

 

School Daze

Levi is living on campus now. It's nice to have him a mile away, since the move-in was more jarring than I expected. Sadly he doesn't have a roommate, despite expecting not one but two people in the same apartment. We may never know Thomas or Gavin, but maybe next semester will bring two new faces. 

And now that Eva won the parking pass lottery she's fully independent to and from school. After years of being the school-involved dad, I'm pretty much out. You spend almost two decades to get them ready to be independent, but it still hurts a little when you see them do it.

Other than that, dogs. 

Third Time, Charmed I'm Sure

Life churned on. Yes there was a first day of senior year.

 

 

Yes, there were dogs.

This post is about a young man who's picture isn't here tonight. Once again I was too busy living it to take a picture of it. Levi moves out tomorrow to start the next chapter in his life of serving humanity. So we had dinner. But through the day I got to spend precious time with him, and that included him buying his first stock with his own money. One share of Amazon at $261.65. he closed two more deals later in the day.

He drove us home after dinner. At an intersection, while waiting to turn right on to a four lane road he waited for the person coming even though they were in the far left lane. He explained, unprompted, to the occupants of the car in general, his reasoning for waiting. You see, shortly after turning right he would need to quickly get over to the left lane in order to turn left. So he waited until the car passed so he could go directly over to the left lane, without having to slow down or negotiate the lane merge. 

As I processed this it occurred to me that it was exactly what I would have done. Of course he waited. At first I thought this was something he learned from me while he was practicing for his license. And then it made me sad because I'd been thinking recently about how people 3-4 generations removed from someone have zero memory or real knowledge of them. But as I thought about the driving thing I thought, oh, this is one of those things that DOES get passed down forever. I thought about what my great-great-great-great grandfather would have thought as he was waiting to merge his horse and wagon on to a four lane road. "I'll wait," he thought, "since I have to merge over to the left very quickly in order to make that left turn." And here we are today. You may think, that's happy, so why did you get sad? It's because I quickly realized that even this one passage through time wound soon be closed with autonomous driving. Anyway, very quickly again moved on to realize it was much deeper. He's been learning to think like me since the day we met. And it's all locked in over the past few weeks. This guy is ready. 

No, This Is The Happiest

Tonight easily surpassed the night of the last post. It didn't start this way. No plans for the evening, and Levi was supposed to work later into the early evening but ended up finishing early. So we went to see a movie. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

I'd been feeling a tremendous amount of emotion in recent days. I would say that I'm worried about an imminent heart attack (he wrote on the blog that something felt strange, like he knew he was going to pass...). But I'm not sure. The moxie it took to write that last bit.

A short trip to Nashville with my nephew Matt reminded me of the amazing thing that is family. A trip to see a trio of Canadian bands. The first band was Stars, they should have been the headliner. One song in particular caught my attention. I didn't know the name of the song at the time (having listened to a total of 4 different songs by the band before the night of the show) but I was struck by the song Elevator Love Letter. I've been listening to it for the past 3 days. The line "take me home" repeats a few times and that's what got me. 

So I was appreciating home a little more than usual since Wednesday. Tonight was impromptu movie night. Levi had already seen Spider-Man (whatever the August 2026 one was) but agreed to see it again. Right away I could tell it was going to be something special. Levi drove, Eva in the front seat, parents in the back. His driving was impeccable. He was taught well. Levi and Eva engaged in conversation. Some strayed toward Levi's work as a nursing aide. He spoke about helping people, and how that gave him joy. He said that the residents said they enjoyed his company, and told him he was very polite. Can there be any greater joy for a parent than to hear those words?

The movie came and went. Same configuration for the drive home. Same impeccable driving. Same banter coming from the front seat. Some stuff about bladder size and Eva using country sizes as a comparison. They are friends. They enjoy each other's company. 

Since beginning I'm on my fifth loop of Elevator Love Letter. Take me home indeed. With one moving away to college in less than 2 weeks, and the other planning for next year I don't know how many nights like tonight I have left. I'm going to miss tonight.

I know I should go to sleep. Levi has work tomorrow at 7 and I want to get up and make him breakfast. But I just don't want to lose this feeling.

The Happiest I've Ever Been

My wife positively flips when the storm clouds move in.

  

It must be something she's heard since she was a child. If you do a cartwheel every day you'll be able to do a cartwheel when you're 70. That and change your underwear because you never know when you'll be invited to the White House. Or meet the President or something.

Then came the day. Tuesday, July 28. The first day of Levi's career in healthcare. Full disclosure, the picture was taken at the end of the week on Friday afternoon.

And we wrapped the week with a birthday. It began with tea, and continued on with hair brush art.

 

Later the night we capped the day, and the week, with family sushi. That evening was the happiest I've even been in my life. Not saying I haven't been as happy before, probably have been at least a few times. Close to it hundreds of time. But I don't think I've ever been happier. And there isn't even a picture. I take that as a good sign. After 18 years of recording my family life I now feel less urgency to get it all down and am OK to just revel in it.

Meanwhile, dogs.