Watching the Olympics brought this thought to mind.

I’ve always liked the British flag. And I like how the Australian flag incorporates the U.K. Union Jack, but with the Southern Cross stars — sort of like identifying as the U.K. South. (I’ve also always liked the Confederate flag, probably because of its similarity to the British flag.)

The South Korean flag is also interesting, though I don’t know the history of it, even though I bowed to it many times during my tae kwon do training. (Bowing out of respect for the culture from which the martial art originated.)

The basic tri-color striped flags, like Russia, France, Germany, etc., I’ve always thought were kind of boring. The Mexican, though tri-color striped, at least has that cool eagle emblem in the middle. I have similar thoughts on the Iranian flag. And the Canadian flag, though only two colors, is neat with its maple leaf — I like a flag that is immediately recognizable.

I like the U.S. flag because it looks different than most, and is immediately recognizable.

The Albanian flag is pretty badass.

Choosing my favorite, I’d probably point to the U.K. flag. I like the look of it, but after learning of how it incorporates the flags of each of the member kingdoms, that makes it neater.

I used to live in Wilmington, NC. Wilmington is a port for many British ships, and when a ship was in port, many buildings around the area fly a Union Jack in honor/acknowledgement of the British sailors coming ashore. The mall where I worked during college was one such building. One day an American man pointed out to me that the Union Jack was flying upside down, and that was a sign of distress. He light-heartedly hassled me about it, (like I had any control over the flag flying above the mall entrance), and I thought he was joking. I mean, the Union Jack has a topside and bottomside? I wonder if even Brits can immediately recognize when their flag is upside-down.

Bullgrit

I didn’t think this was possible.

Bullgrit

Wifegrit has two bachelor degrees relevant for motherhood: Nursing and Elementary Education. For the past almost 12 years, she’s worked part-time, (every other weekend — four days a month), as a nurse in the mother/baby unit of the local hospital. During the week, she’s a stay-at-home mom.

In the last couple of years, she’s also picked up a few days substitute teaching at our boys’ elementary school. She hasn’t done this much. Maybe a dozen days over the past two years. It’s really convenient with the school literally just two minutes walking distance from our home. She already walks there every morning and afternoon to take both, or now one boy to or from there each day, anyway. And she’s always been an available volunteer at the school, as well — she loves working with the kids. So really, it’s a pretty good fit with her normal day’s routine, as well as her personality.

Just this week, she subbed in for the “literacy intervention” teacher from Wednesday to Friday. Usually, she’s only subbed one day at a time; maybe two days a couple of times. So this instance of subbing was almost like a regular work-a-week job for her.

She drove Calfgrit13 to middle school in the morning, as usual. Later she walked Calfgrit9 over to the elementary school, as usual, but then she stayed and did her teaching thing. In the afternoon, she helped with the carpool duties, then walked CG9 back home. She texted me during the day, during breaks between classes/kids, to tell how her day was going. She was having fun.

It’s odd, but even though she’s been a nurse for over 18 years, and she only briefly taught school class during her college career, I still can picture her more naturally as a teacher than as a nurse. I see her in her nursing scrubs, with her stethoscope around her neck, every other weekend. I’ve seen her in a hospital or doctor’s office setting dozens of times over the years. I’ve only ever seen her in a school setting as a parent, but still, in my mind, she looks more like a teacher than a nurse. That really makes no sense to me. I bet most people couldn’t tell a nurse from a teacher if they were in a line up without an obvious uniform on.

But I like thinking of her as a teacher. There’s just something . . .

I’m glad she’s subbing only for elementary school kids.

Bullgrit

Today, I become the father of a teenager. My oldest son turns 13. Oh boy.

Last night he had a sleepover party with 6 of his friends. Seven 12-13 year old boys can just fill a room.

The den floor was covered in sleeping bags and pillows, and the whole house was filled with loud talking and raucous laughter from 5:30 to well past midnight. After everyone arrived, we fed them pizza, then Calfgrit13 wanted to watch Ghostbusters. After the movie, it was time for cookie cake and ice cream. CG13 no longer wants to do the candles and singing part of a birthday party, but cookies and ice cream, that, no boy outgrows.

One friend went home at 9:00, then the rest of them spent the evening playing Halo 3. (CG13 got an Xbox 360 for Christmas, and his friends brought their own extra controllers.)

Although I watched the movie with the boys, I left them alone to play their games. (Wifegrit went to bed, exhausted.) I sat upstairs in my office, with my door open, surfing the Web and listening to their voices carry up the stairs. Everyone was talking over everyone else such that I couldn’t make out a word anyone said at any time. It was all just a constant cacophony.

I went back down to check on them a couple of times, and found them watching Airplane!. Think about that a moment — 13 year old boys, left to their own choices, turned off a shooting game from 2007 and put in a comedy classic film from 1980. This supports my belief that boys would rather laugh with their friends than kill each other. It’s a good thing.

At midnight I went down to call for lights out. Surprisingly, the lights were all already out, and only the TV was on. They were just about to start another Xbox game, but they grudgingly turned it off.  Everyone got to their sleep places and continued talking quietly. I went back up to my office. I held no illusion that they’d go right to sleep.

At 12:30 I heard loud music downstairs. I tip toed down the stairs to see what the boys were doing. The TV was on again, and three boys were playing/watching Portal 2. The other three boys were playing on their smart phones. The phones were the loudest things in the room. Really loud. I stood behind them all, at the dark edge of the room. After a minute, CG13 spotted me. “Hi Dad,” he said.

“Hi son. Whoever, turn down the volume, OK?”

The boys with the cell phones turned down the music, but no one quit any game.

I said, “For the record, I told you to turn everything off at midnight. Right?”

“Yes,” they all said.

I went back up to my office. The talking downstairs continued, loud enough I could hear them upstairs. But after 15 minutes, it quietened enough. I could tell they were still up and probably playing games, but at least they wouldn’t wake mother or little brother.

I was tempted to go back down and shut things off, firmly, for the night, but a boy doesn’t turn into a teenager every birthday. I thought I’d let Calfgrit13 live it up a bit. So long as they didn’t wake Wifegrit or Calfgrit8, or me once I went to bed, (at 1:30am), I was fine with them “partying” all night :-)

Bullgrit