Although Aaron doesn't remember when or why he was asked to write the story "Snow Hiking," tonight he received an award for writing it. Each elementary school in the S-K District selected one student from each grade to receive this award; Aaron represented the kindergarten from Lee. He and I attended the awards ceremony tonight, where the guest of honor was writer Eric Kimmel (a writer of childrens books and a resident of Portland). Mr. Kimmel gave a delightful reading of his story, "The Three Cabritos." And he didn't just read his story straight-through; he paused every few pages to relate the history of how he chose the characters, the setting, the plot, and to share various techniques for writing and living a good life. I found the reading fun and educational, but I was surprised that Aaron came away with specific ideas to improve his own writing (e.g., to think about how your own experiences could translate into an interesting piece of writing). After Mr. Kimmel's reading, each student was called onto the stage to receive his or her reward and hear his or her name mangled by the poor hosts of the event.
Like 40 years ago, when I was in the fourth grade at Gubser, I received a similar honor for my first published work, "The Creatures from Saturn," which still sits on my bookshelf in the Literature section. I read this short story to the family during dinner one day this week, and boy did I have them enthralled. By the way, you can purchase a copy of my second published work, which I know is still popular and relevant as I continue to receive royalty checks in the mail every quarter.
Aging is a gradual process, so why should I worry when the clock officially tacks on another number to my age? Perhaps I should have realized that, as my peers began turning 40, and I would post half-serious questions about their experience, that I had my own issues brewing steadily in the background. I don't think I've had a birthday party since I was six, but Meg insisted on having one for me--something about 40 being a milestone or something, despite my arguments that I had done nothing significant to warrant anything--I had simply aged another year. But I conceded the point. I offered up the idea of a roller skating party--which is probably what my last party was; see, I haven't changed a bit--but I think she laughed that one out of the rink pretty quickly. I get daily emails from Groupon and LivingSocial, and they had something for a karaoke box rental. My half-Japanese side recognized something that could be fun and probably aligned with my personality. I told Meg...
Ed eating #4 of 5 treats for the evening Last year I told the boys they could choose between camping out with their peers at the school or their peers from church, even though the two events were on separate weekends. They chose the way of the church . This year Meg suggested we attend the school campout and offered to pay our way, regardless of whether we wanted to go on the church campout or not. Of course she wasn't planning on camping with us, so she was just looking for an excuse to get us out of the house so she could spend a night out socializing with her girlfriends. Other than the potluck dinner, there weren't any activities organized, so the boys roamed the school grounds with their chums while I followed them around taking photographs. Lights out was at 10:00 p.m., except for the crowds of socializing adults just outside our tent talking the night away.
Mt. St. Helens was beckoning us the whole trip I had planned on taking a vacation day the day before Meg and I were to begin our celebration of 15 years married to each other, but Meg suggested just working through the day as she had class all morning and her job to attend to in the afternoon, and then taking the next Friday off and take the kids to the pool or something. The pool? Nah, I wanted to do something memorable, something they would remember for years to come. While that may seem like a tall order for my boring-routine lifestyle, I think I may have actually pulled it off. Back to that conversation with Meg about going to the pool, I voiced my interest to go to Mt. St. Helens and camp and go on all-day hikes. Wow, that actually sounds really good; I better figure out how to make it happen. I searched semi-casually for a camping spot to reserve, but there was nothing, which wasn't surprising given the nature of the request. There were walk-in spots available, but ther...
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