Monday, January 23, 2012

Parker's Aunt Rita Adventure

One of the great joys of my life is that I have S0 MANY WONDERFUL GREAT-NIECES and NEPHEWS. And I am a very lucky Great-Aunt because lots of them live close enough for me to occasionally take them on Aunt Rita Adventures.

My adventures can be anything under the sun...and some are better than others. In many ways, they are like the Forrest Gump movie and that box of chocolates...

The very best thing about these events is that they are a GREAT EXCUSE for me to attend a completely fun, entertaining activity...with no redeeming knowledge or benefit whatsoever.

Case in point -- recently I saw an ad for an event at the Waterfront Convention Center. A "magician" was going to perform. Ron Royals -- he was billed as "an illusionist".

WHAT FUN!! All I have to do is figure out who's next in the Aunt-Rita-Adventure-lineup.

PARKER!!

Yippee kayee. Parker is 14 years old -- PERFECT....here's my favorite picture of him at Christmas, with his Mom, Nicole...


When I went to pick him up -- I gave him the keys to my car. He very recently got his learner's permit -- so I thought this would be a memorable part of our adventure. And it was. In a very good way. Parker was a careful and considerate driver -- with a good sense of the "middle of the road" and an excellent awareness of the speed limits, etc.

He chose Red Robin for our pre-show dinner. I didn't tell him what the actual "event" was until he pulled into the convention center parking lot.

The dinner was delicious, the magic show was entertaining -- and the kid is terrific.
Parker is a bright young man, who loves sports, is active on all kinds of team activities, AND he got a 4.0 GPA last semester...(which he just about always does).

It was such a pleasure for me to spend a little one-on-one time with Parker and talk about stuff. Nothing major. Our family....how it seems like just yesterday I was teaching my own boys how to drive...Now Elliott is in the Army and Ross travels all the time...

Gee...it all goes so fast... In a blink of an eye, little kids grow up and want to borrow the car....

I have a small picture of Parker in a magnet frame on my refrigerator. He's a year old baby, with an odd blonde curl of hair over his left ear. Could that picture really be hanging there for 14 years already??

The first full understandable sentence Parker spoke aloud...

"My name is Parker Martin Kearney and I come in peace."

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