Corners

I love how "people" talk about your life having a path.  As if it's this pea gravel lined walkway somewhere.  Emphasis on the AS IF.

My path has been full of corners.  Not unlike PacMan sometimes.  (hmmm if I had more time I'd flesh this out for you all but at the moment I'm about quantity and not necessarily quality, sorry)

In any event, last night was a big corner.

I took my darling babies to orientation night at school.  That would be HIGH school, where both babies will be in attendance this year.

For baby girl this is old hat.  She's going to be a junior this year, which is, arguably, the meat of the high school sandwich (or in her case, the tofu).  For baby boy, however, this is new and anxiety provoking territory.  There are over 500 freshmen in his class, some of whom he already knows he doesn't like and many more of whom he will discover shortly he doesn't like.  I'd be anxious too.

In any event the corner came when baby girl offered to go with baby boy to orientation.  She literally took him in hand, walked him to each of his classes, introduced him to teachers and friends and literally steered him in the right direction.

She gave him the ins and outs of negotiating lunch, the breezeway, class changes, etc.  She even connected him with the theatre teacher and volunteered him for participation in the tech crew.  She took him backstage and upstairs to show him the hallowed tech booth from which the production team works its magic.

"Mom," he whispered to me while we stood in line for ice cream later that night "she said that the number one rule of the tech booth is 'no having sex in there!'"

"Mmmm" I feigned instant interest in a new flavor of ice cream in the case to mask my shock "I guess that's probably a good policy."

As we sat around a table having milkshakes she said "Do you know what the number one rule of tech is?"

I beat him to the punch as I now knew this answer, "No having sex in the tech booth?" 

"NO!"  she said, glaring at him "the number ONE rule of tech is 'No talking about tech with people who aren't techies!'" 

He hung his head, chagrined. 

She smiled.

"No sex in the booth is rule number two."

Am I worried about my children having sex in the tech booth?  Not really.  And even if I were, I think it would be outweighed by my new found knowledge that regardless of the opportunities and challenges they'll face this year, their paths, while veering away from mine, seem to be merging, in some small but significant way, together.