Responsible Adult Resides Here.

We have returned from the bright lights big city. All in one piece. So much to observe.

Mr. Sophanne and I were at a NJ beach with his grandson (then aged 3) about 5 years ago. Every now and then, Little Levi would walk ahead of the family unit with some other group of people as if he were "trying out" other families just to see what it was like. He was always safe and never wandered too far away.

This is what BT (boyteen) did for about 60% of the NY trip. He bought an oversized NY ball cap- very loud even for black and white, a Billabong hoodie, and some mirrored sunglasses. Most of the time walking in the city, he played "gangsta" with himself. He had gotten a new pair of pants before going to the city which included plastic chains hanging from them. He lost one of these chains when it got caught on a seat on the train.

A trip to the city with "redneck" (they referred to themselves as this) teenagers is full of memorable moments. In sharing them I hope you get a chuckle and realize that I am not really laughing at them, only enjoying the learning moments of the trip.

"I can't believe we ate at Red Lobster. The nicest restaurant I've ever been to is Eat-N-Park."

"They have cloth napkins."

As we prepared to go to our 4th floor room, one pointed to elevator #4 assuming it was the one we had to use.

While dining at the Hard Rock Cafe, both of them (dressed in varying degrees of their perception of gangsta attire) ordered non-alcoholic "drinks." BT ordered a second. GT (girl teen) just one. As the waitress brought our check she said, "You guys have had a few too many. We're going to have to roll you up the steps." They thought this was hysterical. Upon finding out the receipt in their hands entitled them to complimentary glasses, they started to walk out with the glasses they had been drinking out of and some explanation was required to convince them that they would get new, clean, boxed glasses.

The trip was a sine wave of silliness, exhaustion, interest, and identity searching. We won't talk about the near nervous breakdown I had on the way there on the train in Philadelphia when I sat there wondering WTF AM I DOING? (fortunately they were oblivious to this moment of panic)

In other news, not so good, when I returned I found out that my uncle is in the hospital with what is believed to be advanced stages of Alzheimer's. The belief is that he was doing a fairly good job of hiding it (with my aunt's help-although I'm not sure she was admitting there was anything wrong.) That's the only way I can explain the fast progression of the disease although they are still testing him and the possible interactions of the various medications he's been on.

I have read all of my Google reader posts. It is a joy to have friends such as you to come home to. I may be out of touch for a while but please know I'm reading your blogs to keep that sense of normalcy-or that shared sense of "we're all in this thing called life" together.