Odd Weekend

Spent my twenty-third wedding anniversary finalizing the paperwork for divorce by mail.

MJ and I have lived together like roommates who bicker a lot but can't afford to move out for several years.  Legally divorcing* seems to have mellowed things considerably. Yesterday, after notarizing the divorce paperwork, we drove down to one of the high schools where we work to see student's play and Halloween celebration.   Now that we are both single, it felt like going out on a date.  Back at home I had that old grip in the gut feeling, should I try for a kiss on the porch - we live in separate buildings here - but decided I didn't know her other well enough for that yet.

Great fun to see how much hard work those kids put into that production, and half the school set up in haunted house guise, screams and moans echoing down the hallways before and after the performance, all the kids in makeup and costume. Halloween high spirits.  Waiting for the curtain to rise I settled back into the chair, eyes half closed enjoying to the din.   

Ended up biting back tears.  Boy sitting behind has been kicked out of the house by his mother, no place to sleep that night.  He keeps up his role as the tough guy with friends but he's obviously scared shitless.  One boy invites him home, my mom is ok, but watch out for my dad ... difficulty finding words even for his friends... he beats the shit out of me almost every day. 

Glad to hear that boy included in a group of friends; doesn't fit into the classroom environment all that well.  Stopped him from threatening a couple boys with a ball point pen one day; see, it don't even hurt that much he says stabbing himself in the forearm three or four times so hard I thought it would draw blood.  

The yen and yang of working with young people.  Fighting back sobs over the homeless boy, feeling really happy to see how far the other boy had come in a year.  One or two random comments about explosives and sudden death, but otherwise participating in trying to help his friend in a caring, thoughtful manner.

Then, an hour before we leave for the school my sister Annah calls, mother seems to be in her last days, if not hours of life.  Fumbling around for words same as my little buddy st school trying to tell his friends about an abusive father.  Tide of time and events rolls over us whether or not we are ready to face reality.

And on a lighter note, standing in line at the post office three of us in a row, born in forty-seven, me and the little old man behind me with ninety-nine-year-old mothers, the woman ahead much older, born earlier in the year she graduated in sixty-five, us two boys is sixty-six. Fun to share a little moment with complete strangers.

*not legally divorced until the judge signs the papers after the ninety day waiting period, but once the papers are signed and submitted to the court the die is cast.  January 23, 2017.