The victory dance

Varsity Home game was Last Friday. Trev is in the Pep Band. Tom convinced Riley to go with us. I had started the day working for the district. After lunch I went to my subbing commitment at the club for Bridge. I love the intense cerebral concentration of Bridge, The subtle bidding's and the card counting. I can't understand why more people aren't interested in the game. It is right up there with Chess, well not quite, but it is definitely a brain teaser.

I was volunteering again at the game in the snack concessions. Riley hovered nearby, but they don't allow students to help. Probably afraid they will be bribable to give candy away to friends. I made Riley into my runner. He would take food to Trev in the pep band and listen to them play for a while. I was in the concessions away from the band so I couldn't hear them well. I went out to watch a couple of times. Riley said Trevor did well.

Trev told me another boy in the band complimented Trev on his consistent beat. The song I saw him play was new so he didn't know it as he did some of the other songs they had practiced. Trev said the Senior band members had requested that the new songs be played even though the Freshmen may not know them yet. Riley said Trev did really well. It made Riley a little wishful for being in band again, but its been two years. He didn't like the clarinet anyway as it gave him splinters in his lips from the reeds.

Riley could go back to the Chello. This state still has orchestra in the schools. But Riley has his plate full with his honors classes. Turns out only students in honors math can take Spanish as a Sophomore. Something about math skills and language skills facilitating each other he tell me. He is loving the classes. Sucking the knowledge up like a sponge.

At half time both boys show up to talk to me during the rush on the snack shack. I have to raise my voice and shoo them both away as they hover at the counter hopefully and block it from the paying customers. Trevor shortly has to go back to the band. Riley wonders off also. After the game Riley does help with clean up, carrying boxes of pop back to storage until the next home game.

Our team won the game. There was a planned fund raising carnival after the game. Trev wanted to go. Riley was tired. Trev had to take his instruments back and there was a victory lap that was run after every home game win. The kids take their shirts off and run yelling around the track. Trevor thought it was the best of fun. I cringe and was glad I was still cleaning up the concession stand at the time. I got to miss that visual.

Once we reconnect at the school band room, Trevor hands me his new band uniform through the window of the car. It is a classic, with piping and hat. He is not so thrilled about the hat. But he'll look so "Band member" when he wears it.

I drive around to the front of the school and walk in to see this carnival. I want to make sure if I am leaving Trevor, all will be safe. It is well supervised and Trev is thrilled. The loud music discourages me from going further than paying Trevor's entrance fee and giving him a few dollars for food. He is grateful for me bowing out. He does not want to be shadowed by his mother. Riley opts to go home with me.

The party ends at 11:30pm. Trevor calls for a pick up. I told him he could not walk home that late at night and he does not have a cell phone on him. There are enough cell phones on everyone these days that Trevor can always find some one, if not, a Teacher supervising will be sure to have a phone he can use. As I go to get him, he calls again. He and his new buddies are headed to a restaurant. The food was free at the carnival. Just the door fee was needed. Trev has the extra food money in his pocket just waiting to be spent.

I am faster in my car than they are on foot. I drive through the parking lot of the area they were headed to. It is lit by parking lot lamps and students stand in clusters under the lights by their cars. I notice that they have cars. These are older teens. I drive to the school and see that I am in time to catch Trev. I veto the restaurant idea. It will be close to midnight before we are home as it is and I am not driving down here twice and I am pretty sure he doesn't want me sitting with him at the restaurant. Besides the one they wanted to go to was already closed and they don't have enough for the real restaurant that is still open in the neighborhood.

The fact he didn't argue with me and that they hadn't left the school parking lot makes me think that other parents had vetoed the idea also and were on their way to pick up their children and bring them safely home.

The next day I spoke to Trev about curfews. His curfew was at the end of the school activity, 11:30pm last night. He was not old enough to go gallivanting about town. He did not have a cell phone or a car. Football has allowed him the opportunity to bond with older class men, but he was not old enough to do all the things that they could do.

I hope he is beginning to get the idea that he can do these activities as long as the grades are delivered. We all slept in the next morning. Trevor didn't wake until after 11:00am.

I worked on pulling tack strips and staples. The room is beginning to look ready for the floor delivery. I am to the point where I need to move the furniture that I worked around. I cut around those pieces with my exacto knife. Now I need to get to the carpet underneath. All the other areas are done, staples pulled. I can now move the furniture into the done areas.

Saturday, Tom called, after golf in the rain, wanting to go bowling with everyone. Trevor asked if he could invite his friend. Tom said invite everyone. We make a couple of calls and soon we have a group. I wonder if Tom will mind or if he likes the audience.

There was a guy at the bowling alley selling bowling balls and drilling the holes right there. Tom has been wanting his own ball for so long he is excited and asks me to buy him a ball. I leap at the idea. I needed his hands there to measure for the holes with the guy to show us how to measure. So rare that everything falls into place that I leap at the opportunity. We pick out a very cool looking glittery blue and black ball, 12 pounds. The whole thing including the custome holes cost $76 including tax.

The guy goes off to drill the holes while we eat burgers and start our game with house balls. I have picked up Trevor's friend and his brother. Everyone gets shoes and finds a ball. I do love the self sufficiency of this age. I keep a tight leash on the money so at least they check back in occasionally. They can't do much without money.

My girlfriend arrives with her child and a spare friend. The girls get set up on one lane and the boys on another. Tom is adamant that we play three games which I learn is equal to a set. I usually am good with two games. The children were definitely satisfied with two games. The girls lose interest in the middle of the second game and keep sneaking off to play in the arcade between their turns.

We are four women to five men and we are still slower with our rounds. The girls find a machine is broken in the arcade and win an incredible amount of toys before we begin to question them on how they are winning so much. They win a DS and multiple pairs of ear buds and toys. My friend finally goes up to the counter and asks, alerting the management to the problem. But by then the toy give away has virtually emptied the case. Her daughter is guilted into returning a couple of items, but the big expensive wins were the first they had earned. My friend hands over the rest of the unused tickets to the management and the machine is turned off.

Meanwhile we are still bowling. The girls are now subdued having realized that their winnings weren't quite legit and they shouldn't have taken advantage of the bowling alley. In the ride home afterwards I point out to the boys how the girls weren't thrilled with their winnings as they should have been. Trevor asks why because even he had noticed. I explain that it isn't as fun or nice to take advantage of a person or a business. It makes the winnings seem ill gotten gains.

The boys' father was of the opinion that it was all fair. The management should have been paying more attention to what was going on, showing interest in the broken machines spitting out all the toys to the children. It was a busy night though. They did eventually catch on and stop the run on the toy machine. I do figure that the machine has made a lot of money off people over the course of years not to return it now and then. Over all it was an exciting and fun night.

Tom got to practice with his new ball and show it off to an audience of appreciative teens. We had a delightful family night. After dropping the friends off, I went back to the bowling alley to get Tom. My car hadn't had enough seats for everyone. The lights had changed and moonlight bowling had started. Next time we are going to go later so we can do some moonlight bowling. It is so cool with glow in the dark lighting on the pins and big screens hanging down playing rock music videos, and spinning lights. We are definitely doing moonlight bowling next time.