May 2021

Nick surfaces from his suite upstairs for food, wanders into the kitchen and peeks into the fridge.  I'm sitting at the island, it's as if I don't exist.  He pulls out some leftover rice and proceeds to warm it up in the microwave, but not before spilling some over the counter, onto the floor, eating some off the floor, nearly dropping the bowl, flinging it several yards across the kitchen, attempting a cleanup with the towel, while mumbling to himself, "Nothing of value shall go to waste."  He's better at mowing the lawn, got a good routine from several mows this summer, he can nearly take that job on himself.  And he's now able to plant trees nearly independently, we placed two young spruces in Grandpa's yard where some older trees have faded out.

The SFS graduation was on a day of pouring rain at Gesu church, a ceremony for the eighth graders headed into their freshmen year. Feels like I could have predicted Nick's place in the event before it even started, as it mirrored my own experiences.  The host who read off the names of each graduate, as the approached the principal for their certification of completion, skipped Nick's name in the order, forgot to call him aloud, and then proceeded to double back with the tone and attention of an afterthought, "Oh, and Nick Mantel," she mumbled. They had awards for damn near every category, and by my account every kid in the class of roughly 50 received stood and received at least one, except Nick.  I'm proud of the kid, excellent grades, and under the radar, don't peak in high school.

At home, we've started to remodel the basement, where eventually I will be able to work from home with more space.  Walls are roughed in, electrician is up next.  (We could always use some more foam, of course, that too.)

I took a weekend to visit friends, which was a shortened by a spike in blood pressure, so I stayed closer to home.  I had a nice dinner with Miranda, before continuing on to watch Noah play baseball at a tournament in Louisville all day on Saturday... five hours of ball, a comfortable chair in the shade, very relaxing and much needed.

Pics from May here.

Jason