Westmoreland Asays

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...

Aaron successfully reached his 12th birthday. He choose to have a party at the game room in the basement of the student center at Portland State so he could invite the world. When your birthday falls during Thanksgiving, your friends aren't always available. But he still had a strong crew of 15-20 boys (he didn't want to invite any girls, despite Meg telling me that what he really wanted to do was have a boy-girl karaoke party--not). On his actual birthday, Aaron and I went to Red Robin for dinner (he choose to order from the kids' meal one more time--unlimited refills on pasta is still a huge draw for him) and then attended that night's Trail Blazers game vs. Minnesota. Enough of words and let's get to what most of you want to see: Aaron's birthday interview!

We had yet another rain-free night of trick-or-treating in Portland--that's five years in a row, for those counting. Aaron went with his friends, while one of Ian's friends (and his parents) came with us. Edward was a bit too fast, Ian was a bit too slow, so we ended up a very disjointed group. And like what seems every year, the kids wanted to go home early. I think they are just so anxious to see what they got and to start gorging themselves on their loot. Patience is still a growing virtue in these young boys.

For the first time as a complete family unit, we participated in the 15th annual Monster March. The local business association sponsors the walk--which includes police escort--that travels from Llewellyn Elementary, through, downtown Westmoreland, and back to the school. People and businesses line the street to watch and hand out candy to the costumed participants. Ian wore his ninja costume from last halloween, Edward dressed as a hippie, Aaron wore his Thomas the Tank Engine costume ironically (he was a little embarrased at first, but his friends really liked his choice), Meg dressed as Black Widow (one of the Avengers from Marvel Comics), and I was Hawkeye (also from the Avengers, and one of the love interests of Black Widow).

Sports have been an important part of my life since I can remember. I played any sport I could, whether it was wiffleball with the Stone Hedge posse growing up or running on the cross country team in college. I make a conscious effort not to re-live my life through my children, so I haven't tried to push any of them to do play sports like I did. So I was mildly surprised and really excited when Aaron expressed his interest in playing football this past summer. Unfortunately, his fifth-sixth grade team could not recruit enough players so they did not field a team, but that didn't stop him from conditioning and practicing every night--sometimes in 100 degrees of heat, and once or twice in rain storms. Fortunately, there was another team in the neighborhood that agreed to scrimmage with Aaron's team for five or six practice games in the fall. The season went through mid-October, and by the end Aaron was ready to be done; but after a week or so he was already hankering to tac...

I took an afternoon away from the office to drive with the family to our second-annual visit to Sauvie Island to guzzle autumn beverages, scout for pumpkins to harvest, wander through a corn maze, and breath in some of the last warm air of the year.

We departed early on Friday--I took a half-day vacation, and we rescued Aaron from his last class of the day at middle school--hoping to beat rush-hour traffic, and were able to get out of town without incident. We left a partially sunny Portland only to run into rain falling through the coast range. Driving through rain usually isn't a problem, but when your van can no longer stay in gear, it just adds fuel to the frustration fire. Meg had been complaining about the slow-driving cars in front of us, but we soon became even slower than them all--karma unveiled its ugly head. She pulled over to the side of the road, and I exited the vehicle carefully and ensured that all four tires were properly inflated and had traction. Unfortunately, the problem wasn't something that simple and observable. Meg asked that I try driving--perhaps the Michael-effect would magically fix the problem. I was able to pull back on the highway, but after accelerating to second gear, the transmission c...