Walking from school

Lev never wanted to take the bus to school. It was almost a mission. In Costa Rica, he would often wait at the bus stop, and then take off running when he saw it coming, seeing if he could beat it to the bottom of the hill. On slow dirt roads, it was possible!

On returning to the Seattle, we lived 3 blocks from school, so he always walked. When we moved to Sedro Woolley, the school was about a half-mile away, so he would bike or walk. Even on cold or wet days, he would rarely take the bus. It was a point of pride.

On days he would walk, sometimes he would call me up and I would meet him halfway with the dog in tow. He would then take the dog and I would carry his heavy backpack. We both thought that this was a good deal. I enjoyed walking and talking with him, it was something I valued.

When he started high school, he would ride with Rebecca on her way to work. Then he would walk back along the railroad tracks. Often he would call me up, and I would walk out and meet him. These were some of the best times we spent together.

There were three ways down from the tracks. One way cut down a hill to the road, which I preferred, but Lev thought it was lame. The second way required crossing an open, narrow bridge. I am scared of heights, but Lev convinced me to use this bridge as an opportunity to get over my fear. The first time I crossed it I had major vertigo and ended up crawling, but after a few times I was doing okay. So he was right, and he was perhaps a little proud of me.

The third day off the tracks required crossing a little creek. To more easily cross it, Lev had built a little dam using whatever rocks he could find. I remember he had come home from school very late once, and it was the day he had first put the dam together. He worked on it all the time, since it was constantly falling apart. I helped with it a few times, but he was never quite satisfied, even though it was good enough to get across while staying dry. We fantasized about building a nice bridge across it. We brainstormed how we could do it without the city discovering it and tearing it out, but we never came up with a viable plan. But with Lev, the brainstorming was as fun or more fun than the actual project.

Student Led Conferences

Student Led Conferences were today at the high school.

It reminded me of his conference last spring. Lev enjoyed the student led conferences. He would dress up in a jacket or suit and be very proud of showcasing his best work and his test scores. At his conference last year at the high school he used the podium, even though it was just me and one teacher in the room, and he presented his work for the year, his goals, the work he was most proud of, and his future plans.

He loved being the center of attention, and feeling successful.

Grady and Lev at Jaal's birthday 2008

brotherly love

Jaal and Lev spent so much time together. I think our going abroad brought them closer together. They were all each other had for a while. Other friends would come and go, but they were the constant - a love/hate or annoy/tolerate relationship.

They were as different as two boys from the same parents could be in many ways, but they learned from each other. I think Lev taught Jaal tolerance, creativity, and when to back down from an argument (which I think was never in Lev's mind).

The year we lived in Puerto Rico, when Lev was in kindergarten and Jaal was in third grade they spent a ton of time together in the water and on the beach.

Jaal and Michael would gather crabs and make crab wars, which Lev loved to watch. They both learned to snorkel together and they were equally poor surfers. Luckily they had lots of day off school, since there was no substitute system, and I wasn't working, so we had lots of time together. They served the milk at lunch in bags that you had to puncture with a straw. Lev loved getting chocolate milk, and he would jab in with a straw, spraying chocolate milk on his white uniform shirt every day.

Finally I told him that he either needed to get white milk or learn to poke the bag without it spraying on himself. Sure enough he quickly learned not to spray it on himself, or maybe he knew how all along and just enjoyed the effect.