Playing the stocks

Lev had saved a little money, and somehow got it in his head that he wanted to play the stock market. He had heard everything was down and figured it had to go back up. He thought it would be more fun if we did it together, so we each put $500 in on the same stocks. He chose what he knew: Dell, Sony, and Microsoft. To me these were three ex-successful tech stocks, but he was so confident, and it seemed like he had done his homework. Soon after investing they all started to go up. It was eerie. I realized that he actually had the business sense that the rest of the extended family sadly lacked, it was neat to see. He was not happy with how Dell was doing and quickly dumped it at a break even. He patiently waited while Sony and Microsoft climbed. One day he texted me from school: sell! sell! Guess he had a hunch that it was time. I sold them off and we each made $250, for a 50% gain. Not too shabby! I was deeply impressed. He was very happy, but decided that stocks were not for him. He did not like rooting for these faceless corporations. The funny thing was that he was not surprised or elated about his gains, but expected this outcome the whole time. Maybe he could have been a rich man, he had that sense...and he certainly had charisma :-)

July 7, 2010

Lev would often get mad at me, but I knew it was just a passing moment. This photo was taken in his last two days. We were on a tram up to the top of a mountain in Jasper. He was getting a little motion sickness and I said it would be better if he stood up and looked out the window. He argued that it would not, and was mad that I belittled his nausea and said he would be just fine.

When we got to the top, there was snow, and it was gorgeous. Lev had a little pedometer clipped on his pants that he found totally fascinating. He lost it sliding around in the snow. He was bummed and Tony searched with him, much to Jaal's annoyance, looking all over, and they found it. He was happy once again.

boffing

For the last few years, Lev loved going boffing on Saturdays in Bellingham, from noon to four. He would often meet Grady there and then stay over at his house. When they were younger we used stay and watch them, but as they got older we would go hiking with Jaal while Lev boffed. It started with clan wars, and then games like capture the flag. There were young kids, but mostly college aged students. It was great exercise, and was the closest Lev could get to his fantasies of living in medieval times. He often created his own weapons, but sometimes Jaal would make them, or Grady, or Lev would commission one from an older player. Last May Grady and Lev seemed less interested in boffing and frustrated with some of the rules and politics. They took it very seriously and had a little clan of their own that would meet there. Perhaps they were outgrowing it, but he certainly enjoyed for a few years.

back when we were full of glee

Lev in third and fourth grade

I remember dearly when a person I didn't recognize stood up at the memorial and shared how glad he was to find out that he was in one of Lev's classes. He knew that with Lev there it would be entertaining and fun. Over the years, Lev had teachers that really understood and appreciated Lev's character, and those that just found him annoying.

In fourth grade, I had hired a teacher that was not working out. She had limited patience and sometimes yelled at the kids. It made my job more complex as director since Lev was in her class. Lev, of course, would egg her on and make things worse, just to be Lev and amuse himself, impress his friends. Then, a few weeks into the year she realized how much Lev loved to read. He behaved himself when he was reading. She let him read almost all day. I figured he would learn a lot from reading and I could catch him up with math later. She was happy to have him not causing trouble. Lev was happy to read. I remember one day he finished a chapter book in a day. I wasn't thrilled with the situation, but it was a good compromise. Luckily his class was attached to the library. It was an unstaffed room with lots of shelves, tons of donated paperbacks, and some tables and chairs.

One day, at lunch time his teacher came into the office and asked if Lev was home sick. I said, no, he came to school with me, and was a little concerned about his whereabouts, but Monteverde wasn't a place to get concerned about kids wandering around. Still, we asked his friends, and went out searching. Eduardo said that he saw Lev in the library before school. So, there he was. On some cushions in the corner of the library. I asked him what he was doing, and he replied, "reading". He was completely unaware that school had started over three hours ago, regardless of the fact that you could hear his class through a door in the library. He had gotten half way through a book. I think it was the Redwall series.
Mid-year, his teacher left, and we hired a teacher that worked out very well. Lev was no longer able to read all day, but he enjoyed regular school again.

He didn't really appreciate the CEC when he was there, the tree climbing at recess, time in the forest, proyects, integrared curriculum, etc. until after returning to the States.

He remained really proud of his part of the forest that he reforested. We would go back and visit each time we returned to Monteverde the three square meters that he was responsible for in third grade, when Bryan was his teacher. In partners, they planted trees, and then maintained the land with little machetes, letting the trees grow larger than the king grass. They would graph their plot and the growth of the plants. They would sit and write poetry, becoming one with the land. It was about a fifteen minute walk from the classroom, and Lev seemed to remember where it was exactly. Last time we were there, two of his trees has grown taller than he was. He was so proud.

Boxing

Lev really wanted to be a boxer. We often went outside to spar. We wore gloves, but no other protection. I always assumed one of us would get hurt, but we never did. I think we were just careful not to hit too hard. We both really enjoyed the sport, it was a lot of exercise and very fun. It was one of my favorite bonding activities with him.

In the spring of 2010 he decided that he wanted to get more serious and join a boxing gym. Naturally we were hesitant about it, but we agreed to do it, and he started looking into it. Right before summer break we happened to be in Big 5, and it occurred to me that we should buy better gear. We chose new gloves, helmets, and some focus pads. He did not ask or beg for these things; it was my pleasure to buy them for him. He loved the focus pads, whacking away at them with glee. I also liked them, since the target was no longer my head. Rebecca even held the pads for him one time when I was gone, which warmed my heart when I heard it, because she hates boxing, but loved her son enough to do this anyway. He decided that with all of the new gear, maybe he did not need to join a gym right away, he could just spar with us until he got better. Obviously we were pleased to hear this.

Hair Straightening and Washington DC

Today at school I went to The Landing. While we were talking one of the adult leaders asked us all to share a funny story about a the person who had passed away. For what ever reason I thought about the Washington DC trip. The first thing I thought of was how Lev and I made a deal about hair, which led me to think of a few stories.

In 8th grade I HATED wearing my hair down which is why it was always pulled back in a pony. Well out of no where Lev looked at me and said "you should wear your hair down tomorrow" I asked him why and he just smiled and said that I would look pretty. Looking for a quick comeback I immediately replied "only if you let me straighten your hair." So we came to the agreement that if I wore my hair down for however many days I would get to straighten his hair. It was so funny because I knew he hated it. He kept repeating that he didn't understand why girls straightened their hair because it was painful and to time consuming.

During the time that I had to wear my hair down, we were on the bus and it was late, or at least it was very dark out. Well my friend Samantha stole my back pack just to snoop through it, I had no idea it was even gone until she gave it back. So i just took it and sat back like normal. I guess at some point she had thrown my hair brush at Lev, because all of a sudden I felt someone brushing my hair. I was kind of weirded out, because brushing someones hair is a tad bit on the creepy side. Even more so when he refused to let me move until he had finished. We jokingly called Lev a creeper for the rest of the trip after that. Weirdly enough he seemed almost proud of that title.

Another memorable moment during the trip was during one of the times Rebecca was so kind as to let the group I was in assimilate with her own, since my groups leader Mr. Morrel had back issues and couldn't keep up. I remember standing with Annie, Amanda, Lev and David and we were talking. Rebecca was standing a tiny bit in front of us. I don't remember the conversation but I do remember Lev said something then Annie raised her eyebrows, looked at Amanda and I, than in a voice just loud enough for Rebecca to overhear said " Lev! Don't Call Me A Slut!" Rebecca pulled Lev off to the side for a minute, and when he came back he glared at us because he was angry about his mom lecturing him about respecting women.