As every reader will know, the end of Thanksgiving week means the start of Christmas. Yeah, I said Christmas. And no Washington fat cat is going to stop me. Anyway, one of the hallmarks of Christmas is over-indulgence. And the dogs know it. It's like they wait all year for the season of constant snacks. That would make a great song. Oh I.....am a man....of constant snacks.... I digress. Here we have an action series, long time readers will know I trot one out from time to time.
First Cole says, "How humiliating, you think our hunger is here to be a subject for your camera?"
Fine, we will both wait patiently for our morsel.
Oh my, these dogs are so attentive.
Do you really have nothing better to do than to film our desperation?
Another sure sign of Christmas, all the end of year recitals, etc. at school. Levi's first big show as a violinist. Luckily he was seated in the first chair in a row. Not sure if he was "first violin" in a true orchestra sense, but still. Here he relaxes before the others show up, quietly going over the chords to "Knock-knock B." I can hear the voice of Neil Young: Levi relaxes, and waits for the show.
Then we get into the serious stuff. Like Jaws on the violin. Too busy capturing video to look for specific shots, but grabbed some good screens from the videos.
After the orchestra is done, and we listen to the band for while, focus is a problem...
A new family tradition this year, the Grippo's centerpiece of 1.5 pounds of BBQ flavor!
What else would signal the start of Christmas? Why, snow of course. So it snowed. And naturally, we went skating again, for the first time this Winter.
First Cole says, "How humiliating, you think our hunger is here to be a subject for your camera?"
Fine, we will both wait patiently for our morsel.
Oh my, these dogs are so attentive.
Do you really have nothing better to do than to film our desperation?
Another sure sign of Christmas, all the end of year recitals, etc. at school. Levi's first big show as a violinist. Luckily he was seated in the first chair in a row. Not sure if he was "first violin" in a true orchestra sense, but still. Here he relaxes before the others show up, quietly going over the chords to "Knock-knock B." I can hear the voice of Neil Young: Levi relaxes, and waits for the show.
Then we get into the serious stuff. Like Jaws on the violin. Too busy capturing video to look for specific shots, but grabbed some good screens from the videos.
After the orchestra is done, and we listen to the band for while, focus is a problem...
A new family tradition this year, the Grippo's centerpiece of 1.5 pounds of BBQ flavor!
What else would signal the start of Christmas? Why, snow of course. So it snowed. And naturally, we went skating again, for the first time this Winter.
So another year, another shot of me and Levi on the rink. This year was different in a few ways. First, Levi was a way better skater this year. Just faster, more comfortable, even trying stopping a few times. It was also busier this time, with a few different groups of teens. This, and the fact that they play music (like Kroger and so many others) that is targeted at my demographic, brought back many memories of my own teen years. Careless Whispers, among others, and I watched these teens (many of whom were clearly young couples) skate around. I thought back to my own teens, and the dating I did at places just like this. A day out with a girl, and three months later, in complete agony after we broke up. After the break up, it was exactly the memory of days like this, wondering if she was doing the same thing with her new guy. Looking back, what a dummy I was. I know (and hope) I will have to tell the kids that it'll be OK, and try to help them cope with their own teen problems. But they might not believe me then, because they (rightly so) will think I'm saying anything to make them feel better. But now, far removed and years ahead of time, I can tell you Peloza kids this objectively: You will feel pain from what you think is love. You won't believe anything could ever be good again. But I can tell you this... today I slowly skated around a rink, Rocket Man by Elton John. And I thought back to the feeling that some of these teens today, no doubt, will feel in the coming months. And I think about how all of that pain is part of who I am today, and what a great feeling it is looking back on those feelings. Isn't it weird that you can actually look back on those feelings in such a positive way after a few years? But for now, we'll keep taking these pictures as long as it's my hand that Levi wants to hold when he skates around the rink.
No comments:
Post a Comment