Today's big adventure was the Brown Deer Grade School Fun Fair. It was held in the middle school which is only three minutes away, so Sasha thought it would be great to take the kids - and I agreed.
The only Fun Fair I remember is one that was held at St. Robert's over in Shorewood. And I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. It was like State Fair, but without all the creepy guys! Well even my 30+ year old memory couldn't stack up to what they did at the Brown Deer event.
They had three different rooms of games, each aimed at a slightly different age range. It helped the little ones keep from getting trampled by the big kids, which was very wise. Alya really enjoyed the Duck Pond game, while Marcus got a kick out of the fishing game in the smallest kids room. While the library had bowling setup in the shelves and a football toss as well. And the gym had a bounce castle, bake sale, and quarter-a-ticket raffle.
In fact, the quarter was the over arching theme. Twenty-five cents got a play at any of the games, a ticket for the raffle, and two snagged a bag of popcorn. Cheap fun that all went toward helping the school raise money for lots of extra activities.
In addition, Alya completely chomped down on cotton candy - we'll have to watch out for that in the future. Alya's exact words after Sasha took a small piece were, "Actually, I'm going to eat the rest of this." Lots of sugar lead to a big nap for the squirrel when the crash came, which would have been better if Marcus napped as well. But our little man just couldn't settle down. I suspect the cat nap he took on my shoulder at the Fun Fair was just enough to keep him from completely going down.
Looking forward to next year, as this was a way cool event!
***
One thing that came to mind tonight while doing dishes (and which also led to this posting) was my relationship with my friend's parents.
It's odd because as a kid you think it's nice and easy to call your friend's parents "Mom" and "Dad". Although, I will admit that I preferred not to use any name at all, because I didn't get that comfortable with most parent. But then there the exceptions.
An early memory is sitting at the kitchen table at Eric Lenz's house on Newhall eating pizza. Eric's Mom had set us up for lunch and it was a simple meal, but it was so cool. This was an event that happened frequently, but that house was in some ways a larger constant than my own. Oh, did I mention that I was either six or seven at the time?
But at any rate, Eric's Mom, Barbara, took me in probably more often than I can remember, but that is probably part of the reason why I could call her Mom, although I probably didn't do it very often.
Heh. I still remember the Ziggy cartoon that was taped up in the kitchen. Ziggy was walking his pet duck and a construction worker was yelling, "Duck!" to which Ziggy replied, "Don't worry, he's friendly." Naturally, he didn't see the wrecking ball headed straight toward him.
***
The other friend's mom that was on that same level was David C's Mom. Now this jumps from First Grade to Junior Year of high school, but she was a parent that was not only there for all of David's friends, but just was the awesome of mom-hood.
While sleepovers were a thing of the past by the time I met Beverly C, she was "Mom" pretty much out the gate. Admittedly, part of this came from the fact that in high school we travelled in packs and I was late to joining this group, but while I wasn't spending the night, there were several dinners at David's house and it often was the meeting point where activites would begin.
Meals were a little more formal in high school, but that kitchen will always be remembered as a place where I was welcome as more than just one of Dack's friends. And Beverly really made it another home for me.
***
"But, Jon," you might ask, "Were there any extra Dad's in your childhood?"
The closest would be Peter Santi's father, Joseph. I really didn't spend a lot of time with him, but the one trip I took to EAA fly-in in Oshkosh just sticks in my head. I just felt a part of this family trip - although it was very much like a fishing trip with the guys, but without the beer - and the invite was very welcome.
And it kind of helps that the only other time I had been to the EAA fly-in was with my own father.
***
Alya and Marcus already have had sleepovers at several family member's houses without us, but family parents are not the same as friend's parents. I don't know if I would ever be referred to as "Dad", although I'm sure Sasha will be called "Mom" by some of the kids' friends. Whether it happens or not, I'll be fine with it.
But I had best figure out something, becuase "Mr. BSer" doesn't quite have the ring I'm looking for.
Be seeing you,
Jon
No comments:
Post a Comment