I had just set up the board game, Sequence, and was explaining to Finn how to play. As I was pointing out that the order of the cards on the board seems kind of random, he popped in with,
“I see it. They go in a spiral.”
Good grief, I’ve been playing this game for five months and never saw that.
I probably have never cussed at Finn in earnest. Or gotten angry. Well, except when we debate philosophical issues, which probably doesn’t count as a a parent/child conflict. He is a joy of a person to know and always has been.
He just turned 25, and Tracy and I spent a week near Lansing, Michigan, to see him on our way to Alaska.
25 years old. It seemed like an adult birthday, to me and probably to Finn. We didn’t have a party or see his friends or have any fun event.
Instead, we ate take-out at the trailer, and Finn blew out the burning Q-tip on his key lime pie. (I didn’t have a candle.) His dad drove up from West Virginia (pictured above) and we all caught up, family-style.
Poor guy. I think as soon as Finn left the campground he met a roommate for a drink. You need that after your mom cusses at you for figuring out her board game before even playing it, much less has you blow out a burning Q-tip.
My priorities for seeing Finn when I can are: 1) catching up on important life decisions* and 2) hanging out together without an agenda.
Chilling this visit included watching Star Trek together (duh), walking and talking, and me spending the night at his house so I could take a shower and do laundry. This time I moved up on the sleepover scale—no more sleeping in Finn’s closet for me! I slept on his folding sofa in his office.
What a good person to put up with a strange mother.
*For you Finn Fans, he’s doing well! He splits his time between his research with the IceCube neutrino observatory and his certification in high-energy physics instrumentation (building neutrino detectors, basically).
Plus, his work will support DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment), which is related to his previous work at Fermilab.
He keeps in close contact with family, makes music, and plays soccer with the physics department. And, thank goodness, watches Star Trek with his mom.
Good post. Absolutely loved the Q tip idea.
Tracy came up with the Qtip idea for my birthday, but he dips it in petroleum for a better flame. It’s our tradition now!
Yay! Sounds like a great time in Mich, and what a useful hack for a bday candle sub.
I thank Tracy for the Q tip hack. 🙂
There’s a lot of DUNE experimentation taking place at Sanford Homestake Labs in Lead, SD. I’ve always found it fascinating (if puzzling).
If I had a dime for every time I swore at one of my kids, I’m pretty sure I’d be seriously considering retirement right about now.
Yep, SD is the endpoint for DUNE’s long laser trajectory (or something like that). Apparently every particle physicist who does research in the US will end up supporting those labs sometime, their projects are that big. Cool stuff!
Ohhhh Hazel has made me so angry many times and I’ve definitely completely lost my temper more than once which is not something that makes you feel very good about yourself so you’re very lucky that your break came over a board game when he was 25! I don’t think I’ve damaged her psychologically too much… :grimacing:
I expect we don’t wish we were flies on the walls of their therapy sessions much later.