FDOS

Monday passed, another First Day of School...and Wifey and I looked on like elderly spectators, which we are.

I joked with D2 and asked if I could drive her to FIU for the start of her second year of grad school. Absolutely, she answered --that way she wouldn't have to park at a distant spot, and risk damage to her car...

D2 is so out of it due to the stresses of sorority recruiting, that in her first class at UF, the professor asked how many students were freshmen, and she raised her hand. This gaffe was duly reported on FaceBook (tm) within moments...Ah, living in the age of social media...D2 later recalled she was, in fact, a sophomore...

I spoke to my friends about their FDOS experiences. Barry's oldest started high school, and he told me about dropping his 6'3" freshman off at West Broward, and how his wife Donna began to bawl...Barry reminder her that Scott wasn't going off to Iraq as a soldier --he'd be back that afternoon.

But of course Donna was crying for the passage of time, the bittersweet "Sunrise, Sunset" of our lives.

I purposely stayed home on Monday. Luckily, the threat of Hurricane Irene was enough to keep me occupied in my news junkie state. And, the talk of Irene moved news of the Miami Hurricanes and all their luridness out of the news...

Now, Irene has shifted, and we're out of the cone of death, as I call it.

The Ds are both in class, and by now, the freshness of FDOS is gone. I'm sure the first trips to the principal's office have been taken, and maybe the first poor grades have been earned.

Our kids move forward in their lives, and Wifey and I watch from the sidelines. It's a nice time, really.

I'm meeting my old friend Kenny for lunch today. We met in the 7th grade, in Levittown. He became a father later than I did, on account of a career in the Navy. His boys are in 8th and 10th grade, so he has a few years left of relevance as a dad.

Wifey found an old picture of the Ds, and posted it on FB. It shows adorable girls headed to First grade and preschool. I'm sure soon after the photo, I marched them off to stand in front of a newly planted tree, to compare their growth to the tree's...

I drove past our old house west of the Falls the other day. Sure enough, the black olive trees I planted when we moved back in, after Hurricane Andrew, are flourishing. They're a good 50 or 60 feet tall. The Ds are a more modest 5'3" and 5'5"...

Might Wifey and I someday walk grandkids into their first class?