Rolling stones...

Oliver: "Hey Dad, you wanna Rock N' Roll or something?

Me: "No, I'm okay buddy."

Oliver: "oh, okay. cool."



Today is Oliver's first day of school. This is that day you dread from the moment they're born. You know that you get 5 years before you have to start shipping them off for hours a day to become one of "them". No longer is your child this little moldable soul with bright eyes and an open mind. No no, he's a member of a classroom in a public school somewhere.

He's a member of one of those up and coming generations of kids we're all gonna be shaking our heads at in a few years. He's going to be impressed by the trends of the world and Saturday morning cartoon ad's. He's going to want the hip kids' shoes, and the cool bike that other kid has. Gone is your individual with all his charm and wit. Replaced by some lemming who just worries about what everyone else is thinking.

Man I fucking hated school. I've gotta lighten up. I gotta keep reminding myself that he could actually dig this.

People roll their eyes when I say this (because it's like a rich man complaining about his money) but being an "above-average" kid has a shitload of problems associated with it, the least of which being self-awareness. Ollie shows a lot of signs of being very aware of his own humanity, mortality and youth. He sticks out like a sore thumb and while I love it, I'm worried he's gonna resent it like I did. He's still discovering every day he walks on this planet, and while I'm excited for him because he now gets to a place to learn things like science and math...but I'm just concerned.

I'm worried I'm gonna lose this super cool kid that Kayla and I have raised.

Well, here's to first days of school. We have Charlie next in 2 years, and they'll have another 12 years of this shit ahead of them. Man, I wish I could be there.