NOVEMBER 15, 2019 – Blogger’s Note: For several years quite awhile ago, my sisters, mother, nieces and I wrote daily stories on an online family bulletin board. By the end of our experiment, we’d accumulated thousands of pages of material. Here, in two parts is an entry I posted describing a ride to school one day when my son Byron was a junior.
Today I volunteered to drive Byron to school. We had fun along the way.
A light over-night snow had blanketed my car. I brushed everything off except what was on the hood, and once we left the alley, we experienced the desired effect: Star Wars! That’s right. When we accelerated down the street, the wind blew the snow up and over the windshield, giving the effect of “hyper-speed” in the first Star Wars movie. It was really cool, and I yelled, “Hey, Star Wars!” Byron laughed and I laughed and we laughed together.
Down the road, I surprised Byron with a question. “Hey, Byron,” I said, “what’s happening in school today?”
“I dunno, really,” he answered.
“WHAT?!!!” You don’t KNOW??!!” I feigned complete astonishment. “Gees, that sounds like anything could happen, like the totally unexpected could occur, like, ‘Welcome to school, boys and girls! I’m Barnum Bailey, and I’m your new upper school director, and today for your first class, you’re going to learn how to juggle, tame lions and swing on a trapeeze!’ and you’ll have the grandest time ever and at the end of the day, I’ll ask you, ‘So, Byron, what did you do in school today?’ and you’ll say, ‘Well, Dad, it was a highly unusual day at the academy,’ and I’ll ask, ‘How’s that?’ and you’ll say, ‘Well, Dad, instead of working on trapezoids in math like a bunch of sophomores, we swung on trapeezes like a bunch of monkeys, and instead of Latin, we worked with lions, and instead of juggling band and choir, we juggled plastic bottles and instead of . . .’ and then I’ll interrupt you and say, ‘Hold the phone!’ what the heck’s going on? Do you think school is some kind of circus or what?’ and you’ll say, ‘Actually, Dad, it’s not SOME kind of circus, it’s a really COOL circus and one that will provide a very lucrative career and . . .’”
I looked over at Byron, whose big smile gave me encouragement.
“And then,” I said, “I’ll go bonkers and I’ll call Mr. Downs [the real director of the school] and I’ll say, ‘Mr. Downs, this is Mr. Nilsson, Byron’s dad, and I’ve heard some very distressing news about the direction of the academy. I mean, sir, I’ve heard it’s become a circus, and what I DEMAND to know, sir, is how you think parents paying big bucks tuition are going to stand for your turning true and tried academics into a major league CIRCUS! I mean, it’s not fair to the parents and it certainly isn’t fair to the kids who now think–at least MY son thinks–that they can just go out and make tons of money swinging from trapezes and sticking their heads inside lions’ mouths and all kinds of crazy things. I demand an explanation!’”
Byron humored me with hearty laughter.
Stay tuned for Part II!
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© 2019 Eric Nilsson
