Ever since our return from vacation, I’ve noticed that my son Dakota seems to be obsessed with the mail. Usually it is like pulling teeth to get one of the kids to go down to the mailbox and retrieve the mail. You would think that I was asking them to do battle with Big Foot or try and cure cancer instead of going down to a community mail box and get envelopes from a small metal box. Oh sure their reluctance may have something to do with the concrete being fairly close to the temperatures of the sun.
But it’s not like I am asking them to walk down there in their bare feet. As I said, for the last week Dakota has not only volunteered to go down and “get the mail” he have actually taken it upon himself to go down to the box and check the mail several times per day. One or two days of that and as a parent I begin to get suspicious. If I didn’t know any better I would think he was trying to get to something before his parents had a chance to see it. Perhaps I am just being paranoid. Still my parent spider sense was definitely tingling.
Today Dakota came running through the door carrying his rip stick and the contents of the mailbox. Well most of the contents of the mailbox. From the looks of the pathway of destruction behind him he had been dropping mail all the way from the street. Maybe he was just leaving a trail so that he could find his way back outside after dropping off the mail. I wondered if this was a normal occurrence as that would completely explain why the number of bills we have been receiving had dramatically dropped off. I thought maybe we were just being given a summer reprieve but now I’m thinking they just might not have reached their final destination of the kitchen table.
Today was definitely different though. Usually Dakota just opens the front door and throws the mail inside like some sort of postal smart bomb. This time he actually came into the house before launching the mail; all the mail except the one large brown envelope that he held in his hand. Before I could even enquire as to who the large envelope was addressed to he proclaimed, “It’s here! It’s finally here!”
Was this my Arizona Diamondbacks contract where they finally had saw the error of their ways and were going to offer me a job as a left-handed reliever? My excitement level was rising to equal that of my son. He flashed the envelope in front of my face as we danced around the living room. The return address said Kyrene School District. I stopped dead in my tracks. Hey this wasn’t from the Diamondbacks; what the heck am I dancing for? I stood there in silence utterly confused.
Trina must have sensed my bewilderment as she offered, “it’s his school schedule; now he gets to know what classes and what teachers he has.” Ok that didn’t help my confusion at all. This is the boy who we have to literally beg to do his homework. This is the boy that we have to take flowers to meet the teacher night as a pre-emptive “we’re sorry” for what the teacher is about to endure.
This is the boy who has been told over and over that he is just like his dad. Hey wait a minute; I just realized that they didn’t mean that in a positive way! Any way you look at it, this is a boy that until this moment could have cared less about school. Why then all the excitement and dancing? I was told that he was a changed kid. Now that he was out of elementary school things were going to be different.
Yeah where have I heard that before? No matter, Dakota was extremely excited and I had to admit it was funny to watch as he devoured the list of classes and the teachers assessing which he would have problems with and which he would enjoy. I know better than to expect this level of excitement once school starts. For now I just better enjoy the moment. I’m still not happy that the Diamondbacks have not offered me a contract though.
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