sweet

Off she goes 👍🥲

| patmcg

We dropped Clairey off at college and left her in the best hands possible down in San Antonio.

I can’t say much because I’m still feeling pretty bitter-sweet about it.

I drove down with Claire in her car, then we all helped her move in, did some shopping, spent the night, did the various orientations, and had a “hello goodbye” picnic.

And then the administration insisted that we parents actually, you know, leave.

I was really happy we could all be there for Claire, even Molly, who missed an afternoon of high school to make the trip to SA.

I’m so proud of you Claire!

For the first time as a dad, I can really say that I wish you were five years old again. 🥲

But even though you’re officially “all grows up” now, we still have a lifetime ahead of us of goofing off and having deep talks about history and philosophy. Based on your new location, something tells me those talks are only going to get better. 👩‍🎓

The way the Olivia Rodrigo cookie Crumbl’s

| patmcg

With Claire headed off to college in two days, we were looking for something fun to do. Molly suggested we go to Cumbl Cookies to get the official limited-edition Olivia Rodrigo GUTS cookie.

We had been deeply amused by one review of this cookie that went viral, describing it as “Olivia Rodriguez, that little Mexican girl that be crying… zero out of ten.”

“Hey Dad, the Olivia Rodrigo cookie is back!” Molly told me.

“We have to go try it,” I said.

And so on the last official night with me and Claire and Molly before Claire goes off and conquers the world (starting with college), we hit Crumble for the GUTS cookie. We gave it eight out of ten. Claire got a super good chocolate chip cookie. We also had Indian street food and a pretty animated discussion about music, dating, and feminism.

It was such a beautiful, perfect night and literally a bitter-sweet way to wrap up our nostalgic summer and send off our Clairey.

Graduation Day!

| patmcg

Claire officially graduated high school today! And she did it with “flying colors” 🎓, as she would say to be silly.

Claire was surrounded by her extended family (her sister, her mom, her grandparents, plus her uncle Tim by video, and oh yeah, me) and given a loving and entertaining graduation ceremony from her school at the Ladybird Auditorium on the UT campus. 🙌

I hope to post a link to the hilarious “cold open” student film that played at the beginning of the ceremony.

We dined at Cipollina, which Claire describes as, “more of a West Austin bistro,” 😆 and then we sent her on her way.

Just kidding, she’s here ’til college starts in August.

I told her I think we should continue to be in each other’s lives even after she goes to college, and I will always consider her like family. (This is our running joke 😉).

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.

Molly the Swiftie

| patmcg

Molly may be the world’s biggest Taylor Swift fan.

This summer, she has tried to live-stream every single show from the Eras Tour, including shows on the West Coast that keep her up til 2am. And this from a girl who values her sleep!

To Molly, everything is a Taylor Swift reference. All too well? TS reference. Style? Cardigan? All TS references.

Molly and I bond over some of the TS catalog, including the 10-minute version of All Too Well, all of Folklore, and my personal favorite, Wildest Dreams. Molly’s favorites change weekly – she describes herself as being in a Red phase or a reputation phase, etc. One time we just sat and listened to Red and talked about the lyrics. 🤩

We got outraged when TS herself apparently said that Folklore is set in Colorado. Colorado? WTF?! It’s definitely Rhode Island.

Anyways, here is Molly about to settle in for TS’s last show of her current Eras Tour leg. She has a really well-honed system at this point, as you can see.

Heart-Shaped Hands

| patmcg

Claire has been pretty into making a “heart” shape with her hands like this lately.

She’ll spring it on you. Suddenly there’s just this heart-shaped hand in front of you, and it’s like “whoa!” and she wants you to complete the heart. 😆 Apparently I’m the worst at it. Claire’s like “That’s so ugly, Dad!” 😂