Messing up her room

I was very touched when Allison cleaned Sabrinas side of their room within hours of Sabrina's departure. Kimberly had staked out the job as her contribution to the tornado of Sabrina leaving.

We went down to her room and it was clean... Now I have a new term.... It was "too clean." It displeases me! I feel like posting an ad on Craigslist.. "Wanted teenage girl to trash room, and maintain a messy state for 300 days.

That bedroom looks like a hotel room now. I liked it when it had a stack of papers that moved back and forth bed to bed like birds migrating with the seasons. I miss the circular piles of cloths. Clean cloths on the dresser, dirty cloths piled in a corner, and cloths that are not clean or dirty strown across the floor. That room was alive. It had a pulse and a rhythm that was palpable.

We got plenty of communications from Sabrina yesterday. I know she had a party to go to last night. I would have waited up for her.. but it wouldn't work.

Kimberly and I took C-Dog and his buddy Tyler for a swim in Shellys pool last night. That will be our last. It is actually in the 40's at night now that summer is showing us it's rear end as it heads away. After the pool we whipped up some grilled chicken breast sandwiches from the Bar B Que. We watched the Mets stomp on Wahsington as Tom Glavine got win #301. After Christopher went to bed, Kimberly and I watched Intervention. We used to like it. You really care about the families, and you hope for the best, and in the last seconds of the show you see if the intervention is working. It is like a real life horror movie. We also like it because it makes us worldly about the crap kids are up to.

Last night it was harder than ever to watch. We have more kids that we worry about, and less control over them all of the time. We went from being the quarterback on the field, making decisions and doing what needed to be done ... to.... spectators. We are fans, we root and cheer for all of our kids, but we can't make decisions for them anymore.

This is not a complaint by any stretch. We did what we had to do. We parented Thomas, Justin, David, Allison and Sabrina. They are all great kids, and we trust that the ingredients are inside each of them to make great lives, and impact the world in positive ways. We just are maturing ourselves into the uncertainty of it all.

Sabrina, I hope you had a great time at the party you went to last night. I am so glad the Leiva family is so kind to you. I am happy for you, and I miss you.

If I absolutely can't stand it, I may have to trash your room myself.

Love,

Dad