Friday, After School

[thisnewday]

As things now stand, I'm supposed to pick up the grandson after school today. Which means I have to remember to call the school to let them know he won't be riding the bus. He's coming to work today because he missed Wednesday due to the extra homework he had from being absent from school the day before.

Anyway, I'm gonna cook up the Spanish rice I was gonna make on Wednesday so that there'll be something for him to eat besides the turkey-bacon-barbecue sandwiches I usually make for him. (For a while, he wasn't eating lunch at school because his mom hadn't signed the voucher for the school lunch program.)

Today, in the shop, we're gonna do a little metal work. Just cutting, drilling, and grinding some aluminum bar stock to use as shims when we install the shelf units on our assembly table. I'm also going to show him how to change the grinding and polishing wheels on the bench grinder so he gets some experience at some (very) basic mechanical maintenance.

I've also decided that we're going to build about a 1/4-size version of our shop tables to use as a tool stand for the stationary sander and scroll saw that're still in the basement of the house in the city. They were my dad's, very well built, as such things were back in the day, and, once cleaned up, they'll be a good addition to our shop until/if my son is someday able to provide a different home for them.

And "That's the news from Lake Wobegon," as Garrison Keillor used to say. And as I am boringly prone to repeat. lol...

LPK
Dreamwidth
9.29.2017

Comments

[rosegardenfae]

Hope your time with your grandson went better than my time with Anah has so far. I got hit really hard with with issues from the med cuts and Anah was, shall we say, less than understanding. We're trying to work it out this morning and I know we can. I just wish I could think straight, it would be a huge help right now.

She's as willfull as was I at her age and I'm concerned with her lack of compassion. But, I do know The teenage years may be the most egocentric time in our human existence.

Thanks for the listen, sorry to be a whiner, thought you might have thoughts/experience with the teen and grandparent thing.

[thisnewday]

Oh my, so sorry to hear this. Thing is, something you said, about the teen years being "the most egocentric time," really rang true and is probably more helpful to me than anything I could possible say to you.

Jason and I did OK, and I'm always happy to have him here, but finding it difficult to feel that he's REALLY here, if you know what I mean.

And that's especially difficult because I care so much about him and hear/feel such echoes of the disengaged sort of relationship that I shared with his grandmother for so many years.

Anyway, we did our best and parted on good terms and with the promise that we'd meet again on Wednesday to maybe finish the project which has actually, with a few bumps, gone quite well.

But, yes, that lack of sympathy, that inability to empathize, is such a hurtful thing and they just don't seem to get it, don't seem to understand.

I do try to explain things like that to him, relationship issues which will become more and more important in his life as time goes on.

And, though I don't want to play the "I'm getting old and gonna die soon" card with him, I remember vividly how sad he was in recalling how the distance had grown between him and his grandmother, by the time she died, and I don't want him to go through that when it's me.

All of this is especially hard when you're hurting, as you are now, and I have the deepest sympathy for you and share your pain over these young ones.

I hope, against the odds, that you'll be able to have a good conversation with your dear Anah because I know, as you do, that she will benefit from your words--if only she will hear them, and that the rest of your weekend together will be a happy time for both of you.

My very best to you and yours...L

[rosegardenfae]

Oh man , do I ever relate to "finding it difficult to feel that he's REALLY here" They just don't seem to know,or if they do, don't care about the impact of their behavior on others. My adult grandchildren were different, if not more caring, at least not so defiant and superior.

Its hard not to play the "I'm old, time's short" card for me, no doubt more so for you.

I think we want to save them from actions/reactions that we know will come back to haunt them in retrospect, but damn it, I don't think we can.

That said, Anah and I talked and she was kind and reassuring this morning.

Big thanks for listening. I really needed a friend who would understand. You are good at that.

[thisnewday]

Sooo glad to hear you and Anah had a congenial talk this morning. The hope always is, I guess, that even if our input doesn't show in their decsion-making right away, they're at least processing it at some level and that it will inform their choices later on. That's my hope, anyway. And thank you for sharing. Just knowing that there's someone else traveling the same road is a comfort and your insights are always helpful to me as well. So, for sure, my thanks to you as well...