The Graduation

On June 10, 2022, I wrote that I wasn’t able to sleep until late and the boys beat each other up all night so I had a really hard time but it worked out. When I woke dad was on his way downstairs to the Atlantis Casino and took one of the boys with him. He had left the TV on and when they got back the boys basically jumped on me until I got out of bed. I went downstairs and had a coffee.

Later the boys badgered me endlessly about the arcade and the pool. I taught them about the arcade and then we went to the pool which was great. We just spent a lot of time enjoying it. I asked the girl at the spa about the bridge over Virginia Boulevard. I got some photos of stuff around the area. A short while later, after the boys and I had gone to the far side of Virginia to have a snack at a trashy diner, my brother showed up and we caught a bus to my nephew’s graduation from Reno High.

On the ride I discovered there was a brushfire on the west end of town and that slowed the bus considerably. It also put the boys to sleep because it was so hot outside. However, we made it soon enough and excitedly crowded into the auditorium and prepared for the graduation. Many of my older sister’s friends were there with family and in-laws. There were also a lot of my niece’s friends and my father who had somehow made it on his own.

By the time my nephew’s name was called, the boys had already demanded I find them popcorn so had to quit and go outside. My sister’s ex-husband – my nephew’s father – appeared then. He told me a sad story about his airhorn being confiscated because he used it when his son’s name was called.

When the giant crowd came out, I bailed on everyone because I was tired of my brother-in-law harassing me. I quickly found the bus back to the Atlantis and my brother miraculously got on at the last minute. He let us know that we had missed the all-family group photo.

He was distracted by the very important warriors game and quickly ditched for the restaurant as soon as we got to Atlantis. I tried to catch up – through the bridge over Virginia – but went to the room instead. One of my boys found a lava rock in the parking lot (along with mudstone).

Later, back downstairs, I let the boys sit with their cokes away from me and I chatted with my niece. I also tried to tax my father‘s drinks. I thought my nibblings’ friends were really nice. The girl from the spa came to the party - ironically she went to Reno High too. The boys had a good food selection but I thought that the risotto was terrible. I bonded with the party over it. Recounting the whole meal was not worth the effort but I got to know my brother-in-law’s family.

I put my boys to bed after the meal had ended and when I returned downstairs things were winding down. I tried to interest my nibblings in getting a beer but everyone was busy.

After everyone had said goodbye, I walked out to Virginia and had a beer at the place I had fond the night before, Jox.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.