Time With My Son ...

I have just spent about 24 hours with Ryan - give or take.

He's a nice kid and all ... but he is not mine.

NOT.

MINE.

My theory? (Oh, and he has given me permission to post this - in fact, when I told him I don't make fun of him or really talk about him on my blog - don't even know how ... and he INSISTED that I do just that - go figure ... the kids weird).

My theory: Aliens. Aliens took my baby and replaced him with one of their cuter models. Not that my baby was ugly or anything ... I just don't know since I never saw him.

So - why the sudden revelation? I will admit, there have been clues along the way -

- Like the year and a half that he ate only waffles and pop tarts ... and that was in High School - lets not go into his eating habits when he was younger.

- Or the time that he took 10 minutes - TEN MINUTES - to hike away from the road for some potty privacy and as we are waiting - we look up and there is the kid peeing - for all the world to see (NOT while he was in High School ...)

- What about the time we gave him a 20 pound note in London because he wanted some Krispy Kreme doughnuts and bought 4 DOZEN. Yes FOUR DOZEN. His reasoning - we gave him a 20 pound note - thus we wanted as many doughnuts as that would buy - never ONCE wondering if this seemed at all ... well, weird / excessive / odd and that maybe that was the lowest denomination of cash Gary had at the time. (Just think what he could have done with a 50 pound note!)



And then there is this morning - he heads to Orientation at UT Austin where he registers. He has decided to go into Psychology.

Blink.


OK.


Blink.


He meets with his advisor to decide on classes and to register for them. He tells me he starts off by telling his advisor that both of his parents are rocket scientists ... his theory is that if you are a scientist and you worked for a company that built rockets - you are a rocket scientist ... I gotta admit - there is some roundabout logic there ...

This is supposed to explain the reason we look at his askance when he tells us he wants to go into Psychology. His advisor tells him that both his parents were doctors - so they shared a special bonding moment ... sigh ... parents that just don't understand ...

He brings home his list of classes:

BioPsychology
Philosophy of Human Nature
Cognitive Psychology
Chemistry II
Communication Disorders

Seriously ... WHO TAKES CLASSES LIKE THIS? WHO?

My first reaction when he told me he was thinking of psychology was to throw myself on my bed and wail "Every psychologist goes into psychology because they want to know why their moms are crazy" - Ryan calmly asked me why I said that and I told him I read it somewhere.

So - Classes have been set up.

He come home with what he said in a text was 'free stuff!!!'

LIBERAL ARTS? Oh, come on ... (not that there is anything wrong with Liberal Arts - but we were thinking Psychology was, well - in something else ...).

Even the Liberal Arts people can make fun of themselves - with a "Lets Make a Deal" theme. I'm not really sure what it is supposed to mean, but then again ... I don't think I have the Liberal Arts gene. History is listed between Urban Studies and Islamic Studies. For the life of me I cannot come up with a job in any of these areas that exist - other than Professor - maybe.

Then Gary calls from PNG. Tell him the classes and he is extremely calm. He wanted him to keep some of his science classes to keep some doors open if he changed his major, but ... whatever.

Gary calmly makes suggestions. I throw myself on the bed and wonder what planet my son is from ... very different parenting skills ...

Both of us cannot understand how we could make a kid that didn't want to be an engineer - aliens, man - I'm tellin' ya ...


Not that the kid isn't the sweetest thing on the planet. He took me for a drive through Austin so that I could take some photos after dinner:

Didn't blink twice at me shooting shots into the sky - he's now getting that a girl has to take texture (and overlay) photos everywhere:

He took me to his girlfriends college - St. Edwards - a private Catholic college ... but we had a good time discussing the benefits of them changing their dress code to require robes and wands ...

A lovely shot of the skyline from St. Edwards - but a bit too far for my little camera and I had not taken my large camera - thus - played around with them trying to bring out the details of my favorite building ... didn't work all that well:

Have I mentioned his fascination for all things retro? He doesn't save the stuff - he just wants it now - so, for reasons known only to Ryan and a few people from his planet - he just ordered a calculator watch - AND WEARS IT!

Beautiful Skagen watch from Denmark / Calculator Watch / Skagen / Calculator .... which to choose which to choose ...

He discovered that there was a store that sells old game systems by our hotel and nearly hyperventilated and fell off the bed last night. He has absconded with our old laptop and computer because, as he calls them, they are 'quaint'. Soon - he is going to have a room FILLED with junk ...

We stopped on the way home and I knew he was getting something in particular but didn't know what. Somehow, my vow to never play a video game - which is still in effect - makes discussing them difficult. Now that I haven't watched TV for 6 years - discussions of TV shows are about the same - never heard of them, thus not a very good conversationalist in that department.

He came out beaming. Tells me he is 'reliving the childhood that he never had' which is apparently true because this puppy:

It has a 'made in 1985' tag on the bottom. Gary and I were in California - Gary at CalTech and me at The Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Both doing scientist stuff ... The Berlin Wall still existed. No kids in sight.

Ryan was probably in some pod on his planet ...

Fun aside - I cannot complete this post without saying that it is all in jest - I don't understand why he isn't completely fascinated with all things science and likes the touchy feely degrees. I don't understand why he stays up until 3:00 in the morning then complains that he is tired when he gets up. I don't understand how he can navigate through his bedroom without an inch of carpet showing. Maybe the aliens can explain it to me!

Just gotta say - he is the best son a mother could have. He is wonderful - kind, smart, witty, compassionate, and a very deep thinker. I love him to pieces ... who wouldn't? I am so glad he is my son and my friend - and I wouldn't want anybody else - the aliens can keep the engineer ...