See You Next Year

When the kids left for work at Fareway this morning, I got to use my groaner joke. I said to them, "See you next year!"

Before he left, Alex implored me to clean the basement toilet, explaining that he had to go to work and that he had cleaned the mirror and the sink. I think kids have it so rough these days, you know? If I were having friends over, my parents never would have cleaned up as much as Karen and I do. I honestly can recall having friends over to our house in high school the way Alex and Megan do only once. I have a dim memory that after a swim meet, we hosted a party for the swim team. That was our tradition on the swim team. Swim hard at the swim meet on Saturday afternoon and then go to a teammate's house at night. Our coach, Steve Shean, would often come as well. Reflecting upon that, I think he would come only so that he would encourage camaraderie between us and him. He never seemed to stay "all night" when we'd get together - he seemed to know when it was the perfect time for him to leave. I really think seeing that was a very valuable lesson that Coach taught me about life that have exceeded the lifespan of what he taught me in the pool. Just to recap, I was not a fast swimmer.

At the end of the day, I know I will probably end up being asked by Karen to clean the toilet. After all, <sarcasm>Alex did do a lot of work by wiping out the sink and the mirror</s>!