Day #5440 – (Wed., Nov. 27, 2024) – Van Door Fixed!
Bobby is home stick today, but Katie went to school.
I took the van to Island Honda at 8 am this morning to get our door fixed. It has been draining our battery. They had a nice waiting area, with a fancy coffee maker, and I had my Amazon Fire tablet to read my Kindle books, so I was fine…
They had this fancy little utility vehicle in the area that I dropped the van off (see photo to the right). It’s a 570 Ranger, and I see online that a new one costs as much as my 2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid! It would be great to plow the yard, and Bobby would have a lot of fun driving it around the property, but I can’t justify the price for it right now…
Katie and I went out for a drive this evening, which makes it Daddy/Daughter Chat Day #21. We ended up at A&W for a change. I got their “Uncle” combo and Katie got a hot chocolate. She told me that she wants to learn volleyball and is excited about all the friends that she will make on the volleyball team! She is also getting together with Shanti later this week and is looking forward to that.
Even later this evening my wife sent an email to Daisy, Katie’s viola teacher:
Well, your genius plan worked!!! For the last few days I’ve been listening to Katie’s complaints how nobody understands her, how devastating is to leave all friends behind, how stressed out she is, how she doesn’t find joy in playing viola anymore, how stressful is to have viola lessons/classes/orchestra three times a week, etc etc etc. Today after the class she jumps into the car: “I ATE IT!”. I had no idea what that meant. 😊 She was SO HAPPY that she was WITH other girls and Karen (?) actually talked to her. “Mom, why did Daisy start doing this?” She also really enjoyed having another viola around.
A while ago we talked about the note that you had on your studio wall that if you practice 4 times a week, you’ll get better, and you cannot love things if you are not good in them (something along those lines…). To me it was a novel idea (my logic says that you have to practice hard first to get good at something), but Katie was in full agreement – she is looking for acknowledgement. Last year she went back and forth with wanting/not wanting to play in the orchestra and finally decided to play ‘to be good at something’. A month or so ago when she was sick and missed some orchestra rehearsals, she was totally freaking out about coming back. After the rehearsal Helena came up to her to chat and that made Katie’s day! She is an extreme introvert, but social connections are crucial for her happiness.
Bobby has been sick since Sunday (looks to me like a ‘common cold’ – annoying, but not serious, no fever whatsoever), I’ll let you know tomorrow if he’s coming to a lesson or not. I think he’s ok to go to school tomorrow, but I won’t make him if he’s not feeling up to it yet.