The further adventures of your favorite family as they move back to their future in Chicago.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Lawrence Girls Cuteness Update
Given the way the last few weeks have gone, it's nice to keep an eye on what's really important, like these two cuties: Trying on some winter hats they found in the closet, despite the fact it's 80 degrees outside.
Hanging out on the front step, sharing a sandwich.
I like that second photo immensely, I think in part because it reminds me of a similar photo of Cindy on that step taken on our wedding day, silhouetted against the summer's day. Full circle. And why we're here.
For our out-of-town readership, let's take a minute an introduce you to our new friends -- the 17 year cicadas! Oh, they're all the rage here in the 'burbs this month. Crawling up from God knows what dark holes beneath the streets of the city, these things are crawling on every tree, breaking free of their milky husks to emerge as this crawling orange and purple beasties. Their shells litter the ground, and the air is filled with this constant screeching hum of their mating rituals.
On the upside, Aidan and Reesie like the little things, and aren't afraid to run right up to the trees and take a close look or grab one. Cindy and I are less enraptured, usually because we end up standing on piles of 'em like what is shown below, or, as was the case at the Memorial Day Parade, we brush up against some low hanging tree branch and get a hairful of shells.
These Park Ridge Boy Scouts Sure Seem to Be a Sloppy Bunch
Took some time out of our busy patriotic schedule on Monday to attend the annual Park Ridge Memorial Day Parade. All in all, it was quite the extravaganza, with bands and large taxpayer purchased utility vehicles on display, and even though I had to yell at a few of the "flag corps" girls from Maine East high school for marching out of step, Aidan and Reese were able to pick up a nice batch of free candy, so it was a very pleasant morning. Still, something about these Boy Scouts disappointed me. They seem so schlumpy. Where's their martial crispness? Their woodsmanlike savvy and fire-building prowess? The readiness to face all enemies foreign or domestic? (Wait, maybe now I'm confusing them with the Marine Corps.) Regardless, these kids look more fit for getting merit badges in donut eating and Star Wars figure collecting than the rugged youth of yesteryear. Sigh. We've all gone soft here in the suburbs.
Thirty years ago today, Star Wars hit the big screens and everyone now claims their lives were changed. That's probably true. I wouldn't have wasted so much money on little globs of plastic. And Logan's Run would still be the standard of sci-fi coolness.
Too bad ol' George Lucas sort of took the piss out of the series with those first three movies. Hard to find the same enjoyment in it that I once did. But Aidan likes the original trilogy, even though Darth Vader is, as Reesie would say, "Sooky."
Still, back in the day, when I was 5, and my mom took me to see that movie at the Westgate theatre in Madison, that was a revelation. It might not have been the first movie I'd ever seen, but the big screen, the story, really, for 5 years old, it was a trip. It was all a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Word has just come our way that Cindy's mom has been officially diagnosed with having Huntington's Disease. It is allegedly a "milder" version of the disease, with noticeable symptons likely not manifesting themselves in her for another two decades or so. However, it is a blow for the family, with memories of how the disease assaulted Cindy's grandmother Betty in her final years still reasonably top of mind. It is also a great telescoping of time and life – as the disease moves genetically, and quite aggressively at that, the child of a parent with Huntington's, like Cindy, has a 1 in 2 chance of getting the disease. The grandchildren – Aidan and Reese, in this case – have a 1 in 4 chance.
What is hopeful, both for Kris, as well as my girls, is that with the rapid advances in medical technologies, a genetic cure may not be too many years off, and hopefully comes long before any one of them needs to endure what Betty and her mother went through.
In any event, you look at those little dancing girls below, and you see my question about "what lies ahead," and this is certainly "one more thing" that's out there in their future. But like so much of life, you can't let it overwhelm you, or shut you down, and it really comes down to believing in others to help you out. And in the meantime, we all just keep on living and enjoying the happiness of weekends like the one just past.
Now, while all the moms and dad's of all the little ballerinas were out front enjoying the magic that is dance on Saturday night, my loving and thoughtful wife had volunteered me to hang back and "supervise" the twelve super ballerinas aboard Ms. Dawn's Good Ship Lollipop team. Now I'll say right off the bat that whatever I thought I'd agreed to with Cindy regarding the care and safety of Aidan at Saturday night's show, it certainly didn't involve, so far as I was aware, the supervising, entertaining, feeding, wrangling and general morale boosting of all twelve Lollipops. Having said that, I'll also point out that I don't think I would have changed a minute of my Satuday evening. Because while the parents got to see the dancing on stage (which I'd already seen Friday night during rehearsal anyway) I got to see the real show backstage. I'd have to say this image captures "backstage" pretty well:
We colored! We told jokes! We chased all around! When Aidan had to go to the bathroom, I led her on this expedition through the bowels of Maine East, an experience not unlike creeping through the hotel in Colorado that inspried The Shining, Aidan stating plainly the whole time "This is really spooky Daddy." Yes, yes it was. Probably the most frightening thing all evening, because truth be told, watching those girls was easy.
Now, it helped that one of the other ballet moms, Lori, was there to supervise as well. She covered the bow-tying and the potty breaks for the girls not related to me and was all around very cool – we're bummed that her family is moving to Florida. But in the end, the girls were really very sweet and just so happy to be performing in the big show. See, here they are:
A great bunch of girls and you can't help but wonder what lies ahead for them in the years to come. How many will follow on with their dancing? What will they be like as teenagers? As mommies? So many adventures ahead for all of them.
As for me, Saturday night's adventure was enough for now. But I've already told Cindy, when it's Reese's turn to dance next year, I'll happily volunteer to watch 'em all backstage again. That's where the real show was at, and I'm glad I didn't miss a minute of it.
See the sugar bowl do the tootsie roll With the big bad devils food cake. If you eat too much ooh ooh You'll awake with a tummy ache.
On the good ship lollipop Its a night trip into bed you hop And dream away On the good ship lollipop.
I'll be honest with you – I can't shake that song. It's infectuous. It doesn't hurt that I've heard it quite a bit lately, certainly a lot more than you'd expect of a guy my age, definitely more than I've heard the new Wilco album all the way through.
The Good Ship Lollipop has been the center of our lives this weekend, though for my daughter and the other members of Ms. Dawn's Park Ridge Park District Beginning Ballet class, they've been living with it for much longer. Months of practice and patience paid off at last this weekend with Saturday's performance as part of the Magic of Dance showcase at Maine East High School. It was, in a word, outstanding!
Now, I'm no professional dance critic. Hell, despite the occasional choreographed production number in high school (long story, folks), these days on the dance floor myself I pretty much look like a big fat guy going into cardiac arrest. And frankly, I'm not even sure how objectively I even watched Friday's rehearsal and Saturday's performance by Aidan and her super ballerina pals.
All I can tell you is this – if I never, ever saw another dance show or theatrical performance again in my life, I would understand completely from this one performance what the essence – nay, the magic – of dance is all about.
Those little girls had such fun, both onstage and off! The mix of terror and excitement, and simply the joy of the music taking hold of you and cutting loose, free of judgement or criticism, just happiness manifesting itself as exhuberant physical expression. It looks a lot like this:
That was Aidan after her rehearsal on Friday night, while her and the rest of her class hung out watching the other classes practice. I've got the whole video of her class dancing, too -- shoot me an email and we can get it posted for you to check out, too.
The whole performance by the class was a joy to watch. Each little girl, dancing her own routine, all spawned from the same original choregraphy. Not intentionally, of course – it was to have been one large group function. But man, it was cool. And Aidan did so well. We're tremendously proud of her!
No matter who you are, chances are pretty good you have a mother. From the President to Aidan and Reese right on down to the nerds at the anime convention here in neighboring Rosemont this weekend, you've got a mother that loves you, or at least did at one point. Hard to tell what forces motivate the anime convention crowd – be it lack or excess of a mother's love, an uncomfortableness with one's latent yet inevitable homosexuality, a desire to find something "post-Goth" that still allows for plenty of after-hours cosplay – but it makes for good people watching. Aidan, Reese and I first came up on them Saturday morning en route to the Rosemont Theatre box office to pick up tickets to the "Hi-5 Live" show (see the previous post for more on this poppy, hyperactive, Sesame Street inspired show, which set daddy back a surprisingly large number of clams). There, parading gayly along the streets of Rosement, queu'ing up outside the convention center, "teens" (probably folks aged 12 to 45, but c'mon...) of all ages dressed in all manner of vinyl, trenches, spandex and animal parts. Here's the kid that looks like the dude from TriGun, and over there, five more just like him. A bunch of fatties dressed in kilts and boyscout uniforms. A high number of Japanese schoolgirl outfits. This morning, on our way to brunch, Aidan got to point a finger at the 25-yr old wearing big fox ears and a big red tail, and I got a kick out of the boy in pleather hot pants with shoulder pads and a big cardboard shotgun slash sword he'd made in his basement, presumably. I suppose if I knew a far sight more about the world of anime, I'd know half of who these dorks were supposed to look like. And as we guffawed our way around the anime crowd and on our way home after brunch, Cindy was quick to point out that clearly I rank right up there with these kids, given the little trip Brother Cale and I have planned for San Deigo in late July. Though I'd imagine we'd leave the costumes at home. And I do imagine the people watching out there to be spectacular at that time. And all of those people, young and old and geeky to the point of retardation, all of us have a mother that loved us once or still does, and that's sweet and charming and sad all rolled into one big package. So thanks, Moms, for loving each of us freaks for who we are, no matter what.
I just found out that several of the stars of one of Aidan and Reesie's favorite shows, Hi-5 have left the show to pursue "other interests." (The internets tells me its that devil "Broadway" what lured Shaun and Karla away.) I'm not sure how I feel about this revelation. Possibly...sad? Damn, that's weird. I mean, not like David Lee Roth leaving Van Halen (the first time) shocked and sad, but frankly, more caught off guard than is probably appropriate for a 35-year old. Thank God they found a replacement for Melanie on The Good Night Show.
Huh. Look at this. This little site is still here. Haven't written a damn thing in about a month, from the look of it. Which means I've left out SAAT, Vegas, New York and a whole mess of complaining. So you're not missing that. Probably plenty to talk about soon.
Trying on some winter hats they found in the closet, despite the fact it's 80 degrees outside.
Hanging out on the front step, sharing a sandwich.
Trying on some winter hats they found in the closet, despite the fact it's 80 degrees outside.
Hanging out on the front step, sharing a sandwich.
