Tag Archives: virgo

I spent my afternoon today with Elliott. He is many things.  The label I think of most often is ‘bookend.’  Of my parents’ seven grandchildren, two are boys.  Mine was the first kid for us all, he was followed by Hanna, Maddie, Emma, Holly, Nikki.  The last, and the reason he is the other bookend, was Elliott, ten years behind the first boy.  They hold the girls in.  But he is also, a kid who lost his mother, an astoundingly talented football player, a bright and beautiful boy, and oh yeah, he’s 13.  I only have one blood nephew, he’s it.  I drove his mother to the hospital, I held him first.  I have been in his life before he even had one.  (The following will piss off his dad, and I am sorry about that, but it must be said.  Although I don’t think his dad actually reads this, even though we have sent him an invitation.)  What Elliott and I did today, what we did last Tuesday, and what we will continue to do all Tuesdays from now on, until I see enough improvement to stop doing it, is that we worked on his penmanship.  His handwriting is so bad that teachers are giving his work back saying it can’t be graded if it can’t be read.  Shit, he was probably embarrassed as hell, no wonder he never turned things in.  I am livid that this had to get to such a point.  I realize my sister was sick, and I realize my brother-in-law was more than busy taking care of her.  But come on people, this should have been addressed years ago.  It was like those college athletes who graduate, but can’t even read!  Messy handwriting is fairly typical, boy handwriting is not usually calligraphy quality, but seriously, this is beyond bad.  Where were his teachers?  Why did I just NOW find out about this?  Jeez.  Okay, end of rant.  I have taken over this portion of his education.  And as we spend time together I plan on teaching him a bunch of other things as well.  Today we discussed things like:  why Ferry Street is called that, where the division is in town between east and west, what Mercury retrograde means, what our birthstone is (his birthday is less than two weeks after mine, formerly mine and my sisters, now just mine again), his father’s absence at home, how his uncle is a big old selfish bastard, what fuse numbers mean on a Volvo, how much it might cost to rent a truck so he can learn to drive a big vehicle, why Dairy Queen puts so much mustard on their hamburgers.  See, valuable life lessons we are dealing with.  This kid has been handed over to me, and I am taking the responsibility way seriously.  His matching bookend is an independent functioning adult, in law enforcement, so I think I am more than qualified to help my nephew learn about life, and what it means to be a decent person.  And to have legible handwriting.