Every morning I glance over the horoscopes in the newspaper, not because I particularly believe in astrology, but because when all is said and done it’s good to have something to blame a shitty day on. First I check out Taurus for Husband and I, and then I look at Cancer for Daughter and Pisces for Son.
One day this week, Pisces was advised to ‘be unpredictable so no one can anticipate your next move’. I don’t know if the fault, dear Brutus, lies in our stars or in ourselves, but both my kids have always kept me guessing. When Son was a freshman at college in another state, we drove out to see him and prearranged to meet in the Student Union. We arrived early so we swung by his dorm room first since it was on the way. His roommate greeted us.
OSV: Hi, do you know if Son plans to come back here after class or just head to the Union?
ROOMIE: Um, I don’t know. He doesn’t live here anymore.
OSV: What do you mean?
ROOMIE: He moved to a dorm across the quad last month.
OSV: But I’ve been sending his mail here.
ROOMIE: Oh, I give him his mail.
OSV: I see.
But of course I didn’t.
In the fall of 1998, Daughter was in her senior year of high school and serving an internship with the Metro Channel, a cable TV station that operated out of the New Yorker Hotel in midtown Manhattan. She had won a spot as an intern in the production department as well as appearing in front of the camera for a show called School’s Out!
The program featured a panel of high school students sharing homework tips with call-in viewers along with providing their general opinion on everything. It was cleverly done and a hoot to watch as well as being the only reason I gave in to getting cable after holding out so long I was starting to feel like the last living cell in a dead body.
Daughter’s school was extremely cooperative in allowing her to be excused from class early three days a week to catch a train into the city. The show aired at 5:00 and I always turned it on the moment I got home from work.
One morning, Daughter informed me she wouldn’t be going to school at all that day. She was due at Metro in the afternoon and in the morning the Yankees would be parading down the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan having just won the World Series.
OSV: So your school is being terrific enough to bend the rules for you all year and you respond by cutting.
DTR: I’m a senior, Mom. They hardly expect us to come at all.
OSV: Really.
DTR: The YANKEES WON, Mom. Who knows when I’ll have this chance again in my lifetime? Who knows the next time I can watch them parade down the Canyon of Heroes?
OSV: I know how you were raised and I know you’ll do the right thing.
Our eyes locked and I made certain mine imparted as much guilt as possible. After a stony silence, her gaze softened and she kissed my cheek.
DTR: You know I will.
I turned on the TV after work and the student panelists were relaxed and chatting. The one I always recognize first was wearing an enormous T-shirt emblazoned with WORLD SERIES CHAMPS 1998. She said she got it that morning at the parade right before they ran out. How lucky.
Daughter’s Featured Fotos say Go For It
become your dream
stay gold
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