I didn’t forget this at all. What I failed to do was write this up before the hockey game, put it on the timer and carry on. This morning we did our weekly breakfast at Kerbey Lane Cafe. Then followed my pumpkin tall stack with the final housesitting duties. Add these together in the Fall weather you get a nice carb coma upon arriving home!
However, it’s his 12th birthday and the post is all about him.
Today Nick can celebrate over the weekend without school spoiling a good chunk of his day. Our card should’ve made it in on time. The gift is always late. We usually bundle it with Christmas materials for the entire Maggi clan in Chicago. Fear not. I’m not a jerk relative who kills two birds with one by saying hey kid, since your birthday is close to Christmas, this so so gift counts for both celebrations. When he receives only a solo gift, we try to make it have a value high enough to compensate. For example, the other nephew Hunter received the remastered Beatles (sorry, The Beatles) boxed set for Christmas. I think Hunter’s mother (Anje) explained how it worked.
Moving back to Nick. He is the oldest on my side of the Maggi family. According to his dad (Brian), he’s pretty smart too. Last I heard, Nick was attending school through some program handled by Northwestern. Smooth. It’s the university which gave the world Stephen Colbert which makes up for their other graduate Charlton Heston. I’m proud of him. Nick isn’t even 18 and he’s involved with the Big 10 school that isn’t a gigantic high school! They may suck at sports but as they chant to their opponents, “It’s alright. It’s OK. You’ll be working for us one day.” I need to follow up on his academic career, see what he’s excelling at. My guess is Math. For odd reasons, mathematics is a strong ability in our family through high school. It comes from my dad, the former high-school Math teacher/coach who has a degree PE with additional Math instructional stuff. Brian can correct me on our old man’s education since the ‘rents never told me the details.
So what happened to Brian and me regarding Math? It’s a story for another day. In short, the private school we attended (St. Agnes) failed to cultivate it further along with money being tight; no opportunity to receive additional tutoring at say the local community college.
Years ago, Brian once told me how much Nick reminded him of me. I knew he meant it as a compliment. Still, I was taken aback since Brian and me fought, argued, name-called, antagonized, etc. until his wedding day (probably sooner). What my brother was referring to was Nick’s interest in nerd things, mainly Star Wars. This I found funny too. Brian grew to dislike my nerdy interests as he became a teenager. It didn’t upset me 25-plus years ago. I sensed he was trying forge his own identity, tastes and hobbies. Besides, more for me. Nick is lucky. Despite Lucas making three horrible prequels, the Star Wars universe has a plethora of novels; many cover the periods centuries before and decades after the movies; excellent comics through Dark Horse; toys with an amazing amount of detail; lastly, the Clone Wars show. Other franchises like Star Trek have more to them too.
Next Summer, I am going to petition harder to see if Brian will send Nick down to Austin on a plane to hang with us for a week. The three major obstacles other than his father playing along are these:
- Nick can’t be allergic to cats.
- Which airline? Southwest is good on protecting minors but O’Hare is closer.
- Can I score a week off from work during the height of the vacation season.
I’m still going to try. I think Nick will have a great time. His parents can relax too. I will discourage him on going to UT. Northwestern would be the smarter move for his future.