Author: patmcg

Molly picks up the guitar 🎸

| patmcg

Molly has been talking about learning to play the guitar for a while. “I just want to play covers,” she said.

Last week, we talked in theory about guitar chords, frets, strings, etc. And also just how too hold a guitar.

This week she asked if I could teach her more guitar while the rice crispy treats she was bringing to a Galentine’s sleepover later tonight cooled. ☺️

Was this dad heaven?

We looked up the chords for My Tears Ricochet, since Molly is still a major Swiftie and thought it sounded like of of TS’s simpler songs.

The first chord was a C, so we decided to start with that.

It took a bit of time, patience, and finger pain, but Molly stuck with it. By the time the rice crispy treats were cooled and ready to cut, she knew how to play a C-chord!

Amazing. I thought this would take a few days or weeks, especially since Molly has pretty small fingers at this point in the game.

I was so proud of her. And I had to play her a scene from the movie Flora and Son where the main character first learns the C-chord, and her guitar teacher gives the best speech about it before just jumping into the G-chord.

You are now the proud owner of C, alright?

You didn’t own that five minutes ago. You’re rich. You own something Elvis owned. You own something new, and nobody can take it away from you. This is a gift you can take to the grave and use it whenever you want.

And in the right context, it can speak directly to your heart in ways we don’t even understand. More than thoughts, more than words, more than ideas. Just a chord hanging in there in the air… C.

Damn, I love that scene, and Molly seemed to like it too.

I told Molly she should look up G, the next chord in the song. When I got back from checking email, she showed me her G-chord, and it looks pretty good. 🤯

Mitski en Miami 🎸🏝️

| patmcg

Claire is a huge fan of Mitski, and so am I. Claire and I had been trying to see Mitski live for a couple of years, but last time she was nearby, in Houston, we noticed too late and the aftermarket tickets were like $700. Ouch; that’s almost Taylor Swift levels.

When Mitski announced a tour for new hew release, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, we wanted to jump on it.

The only problem was that Mitski was not playing in Austin. Or anywhere in Texas. Or within like 1000 miles of us. 🤷🏻‍♂️ We puzzled at how Mitski could miss our whole big state. Does she hate Texas? I mean, she does have a song based in Texas, so what gives?

So I coordinated care with Claire’s mom to get her a Mitski trip for Christmas. The only condition was that Claire could not miss even one day of school.

Some late nights on the problem yielded a good result – we could fly to a Mitski show in Miami, New York, Boston, or LA in January/Febraury, all for less than the $700 (each) that the Houston concert would have cost. Being winter, I chose Miami – duh. 🏝️

I told Claire we had a very early flight out on Saturday morning, but at least it’s direct. Claire asked, “Are we going to have to get up at like 4 am?” And I was like, “Nah, the flight’s at 7:10.” And then I was like, “Oh crap. Yeah, we’re going to have to get up at 4 am.” 🤦🏻‍♂️

The flight back got us home at midnight the following day, Sunday. Then back to school/work. Yeah, this better be a good concert.

The rest of the trip is sort of a blur, but yes, it was a great concert. Mitski had some amazing theatrical music, some surprising country versions of her songs, and some weird but beautiful dancing.

The icing on the cake was walking around Miami Beach in the warm weather, joking around, talking about deep subjects, napping in our “flophouse” of an Airbnb, having ice cream, coffee, and French toast, watching weirdos and families stroll down Collin Avenue, watching people play beach volleyball, visiting the botanical gardens… it was all a great time with Clairey.

It was really cool to be hanging out with what seemed like – and in fact actually is – an adult friend. I hope we have more fun trips in our future even though she’s all grown up now. 🤘

Adios, 2023 / Getaway Car

| patmcg

We rounded out the holiday season by doing Peppermint Parkway at the Circuit of the Americas. Driving the MINI Electric on the Formula 1 track (even at 25 mph 😆) was amazing. The best part was trading off songs with the kids. I started with The Distance by Cake (obvious choice for the race track), Molly called in Getaway Car by TS, Siri jumped in with Video Games by Lana Del Rey, and Claire kicked in a Lana’s Let The Light In.

Adios, 2023 ✌️🎉 #nye #circuitoftheamericas #austin #texas #atx #shotoniphone #christmascore #mcgkids via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C1hVUXvufLR/

This blog is now a book 🤯

| patmcg

When I started writing this blog lo those many years ago, I told myself “I’ll keep writing ’til they turn 18.” Well, now Claire is 18, so I guess I’m done, right? Not quite. Molly still has a few more years before she’s 18.

Nonetheless, to celebrate Claire’s 18th birthday, and since this blog probably won’t live online forever (I mean, at some point, credit cards do expire), I decided to get Claire’s portion of the bog printed as a book that she can take with her.

I assumed this book would come out to a like a 200-page paperback. But no, my friend. Claire’s book is 850-page tome (and I don’t use that word lightly). Actually, according to the printer, it literally needed to be a three-book series.

It goes to show, “If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive.“

As the preface in the book says:

Clairey, you make me proud every day. It’s hard to even scratch the surface on how kind, funny, and interesting you are – but here are three volumes on the subject.;-) – Dad

So Claire’s childhood is now officially a trilogy in ranks with The Hunger Games. Okay, maybe having your childhood likened to a violent, impoverished, dystopian civilization is not what we want here.

Let’s go with the original Happy Potter trilogy. I guess she has four more books, at least, in her series.

Happy 18th, Clairey!

| patmcg

Our Clairey is now an officially a legal person of her own. She can now vote, open her own checking account, join the army, serve on a jury, purchase a lottery ticket, get her own pet, rent an apartment, give blood, all the things. She has a lot of options now.

I told her she’s more than welcome to continue to stay at my house. The first rent payment is due on December 1. 😉 (Kidding! For now.)

We had a great family birthday with her her whole family, including all her living grandparents, and enjoyed all-you-can-eat meat at K BBQ.

She’s an official driver now!

| patmcg

Clairey got her official driver’s license today! 🥳🎉.

After all the driving classes, tests, practice, etc. the final hurdle was getting Claire an to the actual Texas DMV that had an opening to take her.

Claire’s mom “drove” most of the driver’s license process (so to speak). With all the Austin DMV locations booked way out, Kit literally drove Claire to Columbus on a Thanksgiving-week day off to finish this process.

And kudos to Claire’s grandma for doing the bulk of the driving practice.

Many thanks to them both and congrats to Claire! 👏