Robin Agnew
This summer has been a weird transition. For the first time, my daughter isn't home, she's up north, living with my sister, and working as an intern in a library, which is what she wants to do with her life. She'll be a sophomore in college this fall. My son, who had to go to summer school thanks to the rigors of Algebra II (and a few other things) had thus spent most of his summer in Algebra class (it's finally over!) and then sprinting to band practice because, being 16, he is of course in a rock band. Thankfully drum sets aren't too portable so they play at the drummer's house. They are actually pretty decent.
My summer memory has become driving him to summer school in the heat (it's at a different high school on the other side of town) and unfortunately listening to his music selection, Little Wayne. It floors me that rap is what kids like to listen to, and I suppose our parents thought the same thing about whatever it is we listened to, but the rap message is so bleak, so cynical - there's none of that "Love is all You Need" style message that I remember. His favorite band is actually Nirvana, which I wouldn't mind, though they too, are pretty depressing - but at least Kurt Cobain could sing.
He and his band had a little concert this summer and I was actually really impressed - they didn't cover any Little Wayne songs, they covered Nirvana, which was almost comforting. None of them (and this is unusual for a rock band!) wants to be the lead singer! They just added another guitarist but he doesn't sing either. Two of the guys had their girlfriends in attendance at the concert, so it was a weird combo of concert/family picnic/date (for the guys). The boys didn't actually sit WITH us, but they did sit NEAR us. It was a nice day, but an unexpected one, in a long summer of unexpected things.
We go north to pick up my daughter this week, and our family will be back to "normal" for two weeks before she leaves again for college. She can't wait. I'm finding transitions are hard. And before you know it we'll be plunged into the maelstrom of my son's senior year. Senior pics need to be scheduled...I'm assuming the coming year will be just as "weird" as the summer.
