Sunday, April 09, 2006
Back from Belize. Not in Boston but twelve hours and we are ready for another vacation. The daughter called in tears to say, "Don't ever go away for two weeks again!!" -- her computer has a virus and she has a strange rash... Then son calls to tell us his apartment has been burgled and he has lost almost everything -- laptop, phone charger, passport, and 75% of his clothes including the all important suit with which he is supposed to do interviews prior to his graduation from GW. Hubby goes ballistic and one sees his tan fading faster than the polar ice caps. The son is in worse shape than daughter and rightly so. Getting robbed just makes you feel miserably violated. Anna Bloviations goes into Talk-everyone-off-the-roof mode.
Since my numero uno goal is still to keep the son on a Don't-move-back-in-with-the-parents-after-you've-graduated track, I quickly assess how this latest development might impact my near-term plans. Not good I decide. He sounds decidedly morose on the phone with an I-just-don't-care-about-anything attitude. We quickly call the daughter to invoke the You-have-to-stand-by-your-brother mantra which given daughter's propensity towards empathy is not hard to do. She races over to her brother's apartment trailing wet hair and still wearing sweats to quickly haul him out of his deepening swirl towards graduation-inhibiting depression. "Come on," says little sister to brother and off they go to the mall to buy some shirts and a pair of pants to get him through the week. They get a new cell phone charger (because by god you can't be without your cell phone) and after the college senior is treated to lunch by little sister he is feeling much better.
We decide that circumstances dictate a family re-grouping and invite the kids up for 'Easter' weekend. The ulterior motive is to get the son a hair cut and a new suit so that he'll be all good to go for potential INTERVIEWS. He'll of course be subjected to a nice little lecture about in future having some money put aside to help cover inevitable mishaps such as a robbery (as opposed to spending every last penny on clothes and vacation with not a penny to ride out any kind of disaster...). And by the way, you really shouldn't buy things you can't afford to replace i.e. Lacoste polos and Brooks Brothers shirts.
Back to Belize. Friendly people. Still safe. Multi-faceted (beaches, rain forest, mountains). But doomed. The Atlantonians and Dallasites are busy bulldozing the coast to ultimately push out the indigenous to accommodate their gated communities. i.e. you won't recognize Belize in ten years. It's still worth going for the next five years I'd say. The one down-side to Belize (but not unique) is the everywhere-to-be-seen trash. Locals are as guilty as the cruise ships offshore that dump trash that ultimately washes ashore the beaches. There is nothing quite like seeing a plastic syringe tangled up in the seaweed. Essentially old plastic does not wear down to a smooth collectible, unidentifiable shape like Coke bottles of yore did. It simply stays whole and ugly. Pictures to follow.
Since my numero uno goal is still to keep the son on a Don't-move-back-in-with-the-parents-after-you've-graduated track, I quickly assess how this latest development might impact my near-term plans. Not good I decide. He sounds decidedly morose on the phone with an I-just-don't-care-about-anything attitude. We quickly call the daughter to invoke the You-have-to-stand-by-your-brother mantra which given daughter's propensity towards empathy is not hard to do. She races over to her brother's apartment trailing wet hair and still wearing sweats to quickly haul him out of his deepening swirl towards graduation-inhibiting depression. "Come on," says little sister to brother and off they go to the mall to buy some shirts and a pair of pants to get him through the week. They get a new cell phone charger (because by god you can't be without your cell phone) and after the college senior is treated to lunch by little sister he is feeling much better.
We decide that circumstances dictate a family re-grouping and invite the kids up for 'Easter' weekend. The ulterior motive is to get the son a hair cut and a new suit so that he'll be all good to go for potential INTERVIEWS. He'll of course be subjected to a nice little lecture about in future having some money put aside to help cover inevitable mishaps such as a robbery (as opposed to spending every last penny on clothes and vacation with not a penny to ride out any kind of disaster...). And by the way, you really shouldn't buy things you can't afford to replace i.e. Lacoste polos and Brooks Brothers shirts.
Back to Belize. Friendly people. Still safe. Multi-faceted (beaches, rain forest, mountains). But doomed. The Atlantonians and Dallasites are busy bulldozing the coast to ultimately push out the indigenous to accommodate their gated communities. i.e. you won't recognize Belize in ten years. It's still worth going for the next five years I'd say. The one down-side to Belize (but not unique) is the everywhere-to-be-seen trash. Locals are as guilty as the cruise ships offshore that dump trash that ultimately washes ashore the beaches. There is nothing quite like seeing a plastic syringe tangled up in the seaweed. Essentially old plastic does not wear down to a smooth collectible, unidentifiable shape like Coke bottles of yore did. It simply stays whole and ugly. Pictures to follow.
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