luke's high school orientation, a.k.a. "time marches on"

**disclaimer: all people pictures in this entry are blurry because i was trying to be discreet so as not to embarass my sons!**

it's been odd enough having one of our sons in high school. now we're going to have two of them there. i have vivid memories of that time in my life. elementary school memories are there but they're kind of murky at times. that teenage period of life, although obviously a long time ago for me, is still pretty fresh in my mind. i know i'm 43 but inside, much of the time, i feel the same as i did then. life has brought a lot of experience and a lot of growing, but i'm still basically just "me". all that to maybe explain a little that it really feels odd for me to be a parent of these boys wandering around hallways in a school that's preparing them to move on to the next step of preparing for their careers. blake will be a sophomore so he's got 3 more years in public school. luke will be a freshman - 4 more years. we went to his orientation last night. i looked at him when we were sitting there waiting for the program to begin - he was looking around and looking at his schedule and holding a big stack of informational stuff - and i was thinking of how quickly these next 4 years will fly for him. and for us. it's strange to imagine now that he'll have a plan for his life before those years are done. he's been saying for years that he'd like to be a teacher. this past year or so he's leaned toward something in communications..say, an ESPN man. if only you didn't have to wear a suit. hopefully he won't continue to base his career preference on what the uniform is. he's thinking about it though. he'll get there. blake has also wanted to be a teacher. he's narrowed it down to history, and that's due in part to his history teacher this past year, who has such a passion for what he does and blake picked up on that. work can be fun and fulfilling! max has said the same thing about his teacher this year - "she makes it seem so fun to teach!" back to orientation...luke got his schedule and a map (the school is huge) and after the program we were off to locate his classes. unfortunately for him he reads a map like his mother. that little "you are here" thing makes a big difference for us. and instead of visualizing the whole building and how to get where in any logical fashion, he stood still, turning his map around and around (yound and yound as he said when he was teenie) trying to visualize it. (i do this.) when someone had him hold the map still he started turning himself yound and yound. hilarious to watch. a little male version of me, which usually drives me bananas. cracked me up. blake is on student council and those kids were strategically placed (translation "wandering around") to help lost people find their way. there just aren't enough of them to go around. but we had our own personal helper in blake and eventually greg and i just stood in the hall and let them have at it. they made it through without hurting each other or making each other too crazy, and blake still even had a smile on his little type-A face when all was said and done. i think luke was cracking him up too. all max wanted was a cookie from the refreshment set-up. luke was hoping to get done with all that classroom location business and make it to the student store to buy a tshirt or two since they were on a deep deep discount for orientation night. he never got there. i wish i'd been ready with the camera so i could have a picture of luke when he was all finished, map and schedule in hand and an "aaauuuggghhhhh!!!" look on his face like he might pull his hair out. we tried to recreate it but it just wasn't the same. luke is both a little nervous and a little excited. max kept reminding me that in 5 years he'll be in high school. blake drove us home. life is never dull.