Sam Goes to Lodi!
I finally got a chance to upload some pictures. These were taken at Pickin’ in the Pasture, an annual bluegrass festival in Lodi New York. If you’d like to read about the festival itself, which is fantastic, I suggest you go here, because when I go to festivals with Sam, I miss a lot of the music.
Pick up was a little different this time: we drove straight from Syracuse to Lodi, which is in the Finger Lakes area about a 20 minute drive from Lake Seneca, which made for some great swimming and even better wine drinking. Christina was along for the ride again and got the unique pleasure of meeting Sam’s other grandmother, who fixed us (or at least me) with a glare that could have burned a hole through my forehead. This probably had as much to do with Sam’s separation anxiety as much as her personal loathing for yours truly. As I’ve written before, Sam’s Canadian grandparents seem to have gotten the idea into their heads that after Melissa and I split up that I would just melt away, disappearing without a trace except for a monthly check. The fact that they have to drive 4-5 hours to Syracuse every other month to drop off the kid they imagine is their own drives them nuts as it is, but when Sam goes into his separation panic (which lasts about until his mom pulls out of the parking lot), it makes the old bitch seethe.
So there we were in the McDonalds parking lot. Sam was shrieking and hollering as if he was seeing his mom for the last time before being sold into slavery . Melissa and I tried to pry him off her leg, but the kid has a really strong grip, and the minute one arm was pried free, he’d wrap another leg around hers.
“Honey, you knew you were visiting your daddy,” Melissa said gently as she tried to remove him from her shin. “We talked about it all week, and all the way down here! You’re going to have fun!”
“NOOOO!” he screamed. “NO DADDY! NO DADDY!”
“C’mon buddy,” I said. “We’re gonna have good times at bluegrass festival..”
“NO! NO FESTIVAL! NOOOO!” Sam howled. Honestly, you would have thought we were abusing the poor little guy.
His grandmother looked up at me, and for a moment our eyes met. The scowl on her face said it all. See? He hates you is what those beady eyes squinting out from that tobacco stained face said. He hates you and shouldn’t even be here. Why won’t you go away the way we thought you would?>
I gave her the same stare back. See what you’ve done to my son? See what keeping him from his father does to him?
Finally, we got him off his mother and into the van where he screamed and cried as they got in their car and drove off. For another five minutes he stood ramrod straight and yelled in a way I’ve never heard him yell before, the powerless rage of a little kid who is not happy with the decisions that have been made for him. And then he abruptly stopped screaming, hopped into his car seat, and with a smile, off we went to Lodi.
There will actually be lot to write about later, and I hope to add to this post throughout the day (it’s getting time for me to have my second cup of coffee, throw the pork shoulder in the slow-cooker, and head off to work), so for now I’m just going to post the photos. I will have also another post later this evening of Sam’s continued adventures at Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival.
Sam’s a great little camper: he’s been going to bluegrass festivals now for about 2 years and is an experienced tenter. Last year, my older friends would tell me I had to check the tent every five minutes to make sure Sam hadn’t escaped or woken up: now they admit they’ve never met a better behaved or more trustworthy kid his age. Sam tells me when he’s ready for bedtime, and once he’s in the tent, he stays there. Here he’s eating oatmeal for breakfast. Hard to imagine that less than 24 hours earlier he was flipping out!
Trina, whose blog seems to be down, told me I need to smile more in my photos with Sam. I can’t help it if I’m a pissy guy, but Trina had a point. That’s why I’m trying to fit my ass into Sam’s chair and looking like a goofball in this photo.
I don’t remember what the context was for this photo, but it’s pretty funny. One of Sam’s more remarkable characteristics is his ability to interact well with adults. I’ll have more on this when I post shots from the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival of course, but let me simply point out that there weren’t a lot of kids that we knew at Lodi, but Sam had a great time with the adults nonetheless.
I wish I’d gotten some photos of the Bluegrass express, basically a large cart drawn by a big blue tractor that served as a shuttle from the stage to the camping areas. Sam loved that tractor, and every time it passed by with a load of people, he’d point it out. The few photos I managed to catch were dark and not so good. Next year…
After Trina pointed out that I don’t smile enough in my photos with Sam, I began to go through te shots that I have and realized that not only was she right, there weren’t a whole lot of pictures of the two of us together. The last cd of photos I sent home with him was never looked at (his mom couldn’t find them she says, which is odd because they were right in the front pocket of his suitcase where I put them), so I resolved not only to make prints to take home with him but to make sure he got a few of the two of us together. Not only does it give him something tangible to remember his good times with, he doesn’t need someone to insert the cd into the computer, and he can show it to his grandparents, reminding them not only that I continue to exist but that he really DOES have fun with me. This photo, I’m sure you’ll agree, is super schweet.
The Lovely Christina at breakfast
Sometimes I think Sam likes Christina more than he likes me. Considering the little guy has already told his mom that when he grows up he’s going to “kiss the girls”, that’s probably not much of a surprise. When you take into account that his dad is usually absent (geographically speaking: you should see my freakin’ cell phone bills), it’s probably not surprising that he attaches strongly to the women in his life. Anyway, in this photo and the next, they’re enjoying a hamburger. Actually, Sam’s enjoying the burger: Christina’s probably a little grossed out by the processed meat.
This has got to be one of my all time favorite pictures of Sam. The kid is so chilled out he looks like he might melt off his chair, and the expression is… well, that’s the bluegrass festival face. It’s the face you get when you’ve been away from civilization for a couple of days, you have nothing to do and an entire weekend to do it in, no one’s on your ass to do anything, including washing your face or sitting up straight, and everything is as copacetic as can be.
There’s still a lot to write about, from the trip down the Wine Trail to the dip in Lake Seneca to the trip back home via Route 6 (where I DEFINITELY should have taken more photos). More later tonight, especially if Christina has photos to contribute as well.
One Response to “Sam Goes to Lodi!”
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September 13th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Nice.