Making Plans

It looks like we have school figured out for the girls, and not surprisingly they are going to go to the same school that Munchkin went to. While that means a lot of years of a lot of tuition bills, it made the most sense and it is a place that I know we'll be comfortable with and the girls will do great.

As I mentioned, the public schools in Boston are terrible, and they are not neighborhood schools...you don't go to a school based on where you live. Incoming students fill out a preference form and then get assigned based on requests, a lottery and very squishy rules around "fairness". Most kids get one of their there top choices, but many do not, and many end up with really, really inconvenient assignments.

There were two elementary schools that we would have considered sending the girls to. One is in the South End (pretty much right on the other side of Boston Common from us) that is one of the very few truly excellent elementary schools in the city and would be pretty convenient for us, and one in the North End (pretty much right across Government Center/Fanueil Hall from us) that is also quite good but would be less convenient.

The good news is that they got assigned to the one in the North End. In that sense we were really lucky...those are both highly demanded schools, and the girls were really fortunate to get into one of them. Being twins helps, since they always keeps siblings together, so they both essentially get whichever lottery number is lowest among the two of them.

Now, the bad news. The quality of individual public city schools is very fluid. Because of the way the students get assigned, there are very few of the inherent advantages that tend to make schools good year over year (read: consistently committed parents). The North End is relatively insulated because the universe of people who want to go there every day is kind of limited, but there is really no way to be sure that the school will remain a high-achiever for the next 8, 10 or 12 years. It is a naturally transient population, even among families, and that worries me. I guess it wouldn't be the biggest deal to have to pull them out in a couple of years if the circumstances change, but I'd rather not go through with it.

Also, anyone who has ever been to Boston's North End will quickly remember how difficult it is to get anywhere with any regularity. While the school is just about one mile from our condo, it is a VERY LONG mile. There's a bunch of one-way streets and an awful lot of traffic. It's too long for the girls to walk, at least for a couple years, but there is no easy way to drive there. On a good morning, it is a 15 minute drive. My guess is that there were days this winter that it took nearly an hour and a half. On any morning, it's highly unpredictable, which means allotting at least a half hour for the trip to school and spending a lot of time waiting because we are there early. But still being late some days. In short, it makes just getting to school every day a huge frustration.

So, in the end, we are going to send them to private school, which I am not totally thrilled about and which will cost a whole bunch of money. But, I know the school, I know the teachers and the staff and I am very comfortable with them. Plus, I get to go back to walking to school on my way to work:-)

Five

Guess who turns five today?

Yup...five whole years, which alternately seems like about 25 and then ten minutes. The girls opened their presents this morning (a couple toys, some coloring books) and then decided to wear their brand new T-Shirts to school. For MA, that meant a Frozen shirt that sings Let it Go on command. I am not entirely sure that her teachers will find that nearly as adorable as I do...:-)

That's all:-) Scooter rides and sushi for dinner, at the birthday girls' request!

Coming together

Things are looking good for Tinkerbelle on the job front...she called and emailed a bunch of places that I had sort of suggested for her and got all of the details on applications, deadlines, etc. She's got three really good leads on summer camps that hire kids her age and that would work out perfectly (lesson to teenagers...you want a job? Ask. The kid who goes out of their way to say they want it will probably get it.)

All three of them are taking applications and will be interviewing in a couple of weeks, and she already has times scheduled to interview in early May, all on the same day. She's going to come out here on a Thursday night, go to her three interviews (and more if she can get them lined up) on Friday and then stay for the weekend. Honestly, I'd be pretty surprised if she didn't get more than one of the jobs. Unless they are hesitant because she isn't really a Boston kid, which they all know already and seemed fine with, she will probably get to pick from the three of them. Again, when hiring kids at that age, employers are going to be drawn to the kids who seem assured and confident and serious about the job. The one who says "Hey, hire me! I would LOVE to work here!" is probably the one who will get hired.

I'm pretty excited by this...more so than when I first heard the idea. She seems really serious about it, and having a five-day-a-week job will be great for her. She'll stay busy, meet some kids her age, earn some money and get to be a little more grown-up than usual. She's going to have to get herself up, get ready and get to the T on her own every morning, which is kind of a big deal for a 15 year old ("on her own" is maybe an overstatement...I'll know if she oversleeps!) Not that it is exactly rocket science, but I think she will feel like she has some autonomy and some responsibility...hopefully that's good for her.

So, we'll see...but it is looking like my summer visitor is en route!

Penalties

Quick note today...

Emotional day around here yesterday, as the surviving marathon bomber was convicted of all 30 charges against him, including all of the Federal charges that carry the potential of the death penalty. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this...not about his guilt, but about the trial and the penalty phase.

To recap: he admitted to placing the bombs. He admitted to shooting the MIT cop. His lawyers acknowledged in their opening remarks that he was unquestionably guilty of murdering four people. Those charges, taken alone, would have led to his four-times-over guilt of the single worst charges under State law. In other words, four times the maximum penalty. And by most accounts, he was willing to plead guilty to those murders.

The only charges in dispute were the Federal charges, which basically amounted to "Terrorism". There was only one reason to charge him with this: the death penalty. Murder charges are State charges, and Massachusetts does not allow for the death penalty. Terrorism charges are Federal, and carry that potential. The purpose of trying him at all was to convict him of a charge that he was not willing to plead guilty to: the Federal terrorism charges.

I guess I just don't see the point of the trial. Not that it was a huge circus, but it kept this animal in the public eye for two months, it allowed for this bizarre pop-star style fetishization of him, tied up enormous law enforcement and legal system resources and forced the re-living of all of the raw emotions of that day.

And for what? So we can execute him...after we exhaust 10+ years of extraordinarily expensive appeals? After we let that ridiculous fucking Rolling Stone cover be plastered on the news 100 more times every time he is in court for some minor hearing? (Side note: someone needs to put that fourth-rate rag out of its misery already.) So that we can make him a martyr for a cause that he just spent two months claiming he didn't really care that much about..?

The death penalty is super expensive. And it's irreversible. And it doesn't deter crime or, obviously, rehabilitate criminals. The only real argument for it is that some people are just so incredibly horrible that this is the only punishment of appropriate severity. By that benchmark, clearly, if anyone deserves it, this shit does...

But, I dunno...I'm just not feeling like we get much out of this other than a little bit of vengeance. Frankly, sending him to Florence ADX seems a much worse fate.

Turn Back the Clock

Moderately big news around here...we're getting a special visitor this summer (probably). I got a call last week from Tinkerbelle's mother, warning me that Tinkerbelle was going to ask me if she could come and spend the summer. Her Mom wanted to give me a heads-up in case I wanted to say no and needed some time to prepare an answer other than "I really don't feel like having a grumpy teenager around"!

[In case you've forgotten in the year that I have been away;-), Tinkerbelle is my other little sister that I never knew about or met until she was about seven. She's not a petulant fifteen year old!]

My first instinct is to jump right in and tell her yes...because it would be awesome! I have always wanted to spend more time with her and have struggled to be as involved with her as I would like to be. Obviously, a full-immersion summer would be a great way to fix that...living with someone is a whole different experience than visiting. Plus, she'd get all kinds of time to be around the nieces that she doesn't see more than a couple of weeks a year.

There are a couple of sticking points. One of them, however, is not The Boy, who is entirely on board. He's used to having teenagers around, and he knows how much I feel like I have missed out with her. He may also see the value in having a pinch-babysitter when we need her:-)

It does sort of get to one of the issues, though...Tinkerbelle is NOT Munchkin. The Boy - along with Smoking Hot Roommate, Big Sis and Munchkin - have all made reference, at one point of another, to how much fun Munchkin's teenage years have been. She's lived at the beach, had a bunch of jobs, traveled a lot and lived under a somewhat flexible web of supervision.

I never had a problem with her being at the beach all summer for two reasons. First, she was always incredibly mature and responsible. Second, there was usually someone from her circle of authority figures there with here. I was there on weekends, Big Sis was maybe there for a couple days during one week, SHR the next week, The Boy sometimes, Papa Bear other times. She always had a lot of people fill various parts of the role of "parent" and there was generally at least one of them around.

Tinkerbelle is neither as responsible as Munchkin was (she is, in fact, a pretty normal teenager... Munchkin was the outlier), nor does she have the same relationships that Munchkin does. If she is here, I will be the authority figure and there won't really be any substitutes (except for maybe The Boy). Which is fine, I just have to keep that in mind as they all try to convince me that this will be the best summer ever!

So, I told her yes, because I really, really want to have her, but I gave her some conditions. First, she can't be at the beach all summer. I won't be able to take time off to be with her enough to make that workable. Munchkin will be there, which would help (Tinkerbelle absolutely idolizes her, and she is unquestionably mature enough to be the parent) but I don't know yet what her travel plans will be, other than to know that she will have some and they will be spectacular. And, that would sort of defeat the point...I want to be around her all summer, not just every weekend and a couple of full weeks.

That means she will need to be in Boston with something to keep her busy (read: a job), but that will leave her free on weekends because we are still going to be at the beach as much as we can. I'm thinking that a camp counselor job would be perfect...it would keep her busy, give her a little money and let her meet some friends. Even if she found some kind of a job in a store that was a couple of days a week, I'd be fine with her doing that and taking a class or volunteering or something to keep her engaged otherwise.

Mostly? I want to see that she can make a plan and make it happen. I know she wants to come out here, but I need her to be serious about her own plans and mine. If she can make the phone calls that she has to in order to line up her own schedule, then I am all for her coming out! But I am not going to do it for her, and her Mom isn't going to do it for her...coming here would mean more freedom and responsibility than she is used to, and I'd like to see that she understands that and is ready for it.

I think she will make it work...she really, really wants to. And, I think it will be good for her...she struggles with all of the regular stuff that kids that age struggle with around teenage social issues. She has had some (minor) issues with school and could use a couple of months to take in some new surroundings and make some new friends that she hasn't been in school with since she was five. Honestly, I think she and her Mom can use the break, too. Being a single mother of a teenager is tough, and they get at each other like any other parent and kid do...I think the time away will help them appreciate each other. I hope so, at least:-)

So, that's that...as long as she can find a job, she's coming for pretty much all of July and August! Wish me luck:-)