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pascal_curious) wrote2011-03-21 07:22 pm
Dear Chloe and Lola
Dear Chloe and Lola,
It seems impossible that it was a year ago that our lives were turned upside down. Somehow, we have managed to survive without Kitty, though not as well fed or as happy as we used to be.
A year to the day of Kitty’s death Pascal graduated from High School. I am very proud of him. I have a sneaking suspicion that he should have been class valedictorian, but rather than have to deliver the class address, he arranged to get a less than stellar grade in one of his elective classes.
I often wondered why he had taken Art as an elective when he showed very little talent or patience for the subject. You should have seen some of the pieces he brought home from his class. I made the mistake of praising one of his works in an effort to spare his feelings. He laughed at me and said,
“You stupid old fart, that is the ugliest piece of shit to ever have been inflicted on an innocent piece of canvas.” From that point forward I made it a point to come up with the most unflattering descriptions for each of his masterpieces.
As an assignment he was charged to do an oil painting of someone in his family. I suppose I should have been flattered that he chose me as his subject, but the only reason he managed a passing grade on the project was because of all the work he put into making it as hideous as possible. It now hangs in my office at work and has been named “Turd Ferguson: A Portrait of a Funny Name”.
Pascal will be beginning at La Fiesta Tech in the fall. He has earned a few scholarships, but he will still have to work summers to cover his expenses for the coming year. He has insisted on boarding at home. I told him he should board in one of the dormitories. I wanted him to have the full experience of college, but he means to stay here, and I know better than to get in his way when he has made his mind up. To ease my conscience, I told him he could have Kitty’s old hatchback to drive to and from campus. Perhaps, when his brothers finally move off to college, Pascal will find it an easier move to make.
Lazlo is doing well in his studies while putting in as little effort as possible. I am surprised that it didn'tbother Pascal that Lazlo so easily managed to get a perfect report card every term. I know it rankles Vidcund to no end, but Pascal didn't seem to notice. (Pascal keeps so much to himself. I am always left wondering what is going on the boy’s head).
Against my better judgment, I have left Lazlo keep his greenhouse. He still spends a lot of time in there, keeping enough flowers so that his mother’s grave always has a fresh bouquet. He has so many interesting plants, and has a real knack for growing them. The flowers are not the only plants he grows, but I chose to turn a blind eye to the others as long as he stays out of trouble. I don’t want to get into my feelings on the politics of it all. All I can say is that Lazlo is not the only one in this family who at one time showed an interest in plants. One evening I caught him and one of his female classmates being affectionate in the greenhouse. It appeared mostly innocent, so I let them be. I turned on the back porch light, however, so they would know I was there, and they wouldn’t take things too far. Lazlo had tucked one of his favorite blossoms into her hair. I couldn’t hear what Lazlo said to her, but I am sure it rivaled Shakespeare’s "O, how this spring of love resembleth, The uncertain glory of an April day; Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away." I fear that Lazlo, like his father, is a hopeless romantic. It will make him very popular with the girls, (I can see that he already is. Girls are calling for him at all hours of the day and night. His sense of humor, natural charm, and general cuteness make it a triple whammy for any 13 year old female who wanders within a ten mile radius.) I just hope it doesn’t lead to a more oft broken heart.
Vidcund is not at all like his father, but that does not keep him from being popular with the girls. It wasn’t even two weeks into summer break before I was awakened at three in the morning by a call from the police. They had picked him and his girlfriend up for trespassing in the Strangetown Cemetery.
I don’t have to wonder about what they were doing in the Cemetery. I think I have a pretty good idea. I caught the two of them canoodling together before, when they should have been in school.
The two of them are very lucky that we live in a small community, and the police would rather not prosecute two sixteen-year-olds for indecent exposure.
I grounded him for a month from the TV, computer, phone and outdoors. I don’t think the punishment will have any effect on the boy; he has become so unmanageable since his Mother’s death.
He moped the whole way through his summer break last year (which is understandable, I don’t think any of us were much fun to be around last summer). He seemed to be doing better when school started and he had football to look forward to and work for. After football season, though, he started cutting classes. He was suspended at least three times last year, and I am not able to stay home from work to keep any eye on him while he serves his time. (Whose idea was it to suspend students from school as punishment for cutting class? Isn’t that a bit like praising the dog for shitting in your bed?)
I can’t say for sure, but I think one of the boys may have been into my liquor cabinet. Before now, I never felt the need to inventory its contents. Since they has been home for the summer, my supply of scotch seems to be dwindling much faster. I will gladly admit to my tumbler-an-evening scotch habit, but a tumbler-an-evening does not equal two bottles in less than one week. I probably would not have noticed, if there hadn’t been two bottles in the bin on recycling day. My guess is that one whole bottle and one partial bottle were taken, and another bottle was emptied to the same level as the partial one that had been taken. Whoever did it was very clever, and if there is anything I can say about all three of my boys is that they are all clever.
Like it or not, my boys are growing up. Before I am ready, they will be grown and gone. I can only hope that I can give them as good a start in life as Kitty would have done. I know she will be watching over them, and I hope we make her proud.
As always, my dear daughters, my thoughts are with you every day. I wonder where you are in life, what amazing things you have accomplished, and wherever you are that I may someday see you again.
Your Loving Father,
Glarn
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I hope they get to see these letters someday too ;-)
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I'm glad to know I am communicating what they are feeling properly. Things like that are sometimes so hard to put into words.
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I only have a few letter left to go, but I think there is one that will be really surprising. I think I have the most fun writing these. It's fun to think up the exploits of the boys when they were young.
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(Anonymous) 2011-03-23 01:23 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
Sorry for the darkness in that picture. When I aged her back to a teen she had holes in her face. ;-)
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(Anonymous) 2011-03-24 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)I find that your images are beautiful :)
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ETA: Though I am very proud of Lazlo and Pascal peeping out the windows in the last shot ;-0
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(Anonymous) 2011-03-25 04:08 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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(Anonymous) 2011-03-26 09:34 am (UTC)(link)no subject
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(Anonymous) 2011-03-26 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)