September 24, 2005 - Saturday
Harry and Jeremy attended Connor's sixth birthday party today and it was at a place called "Funworld." I actually missed most of it due to a trade organization meeting conflict, but I did stop by on my way home and saw the inside of this place I've driven by many times. There are (a few) amusement rides, an arcade, and a multi-level mole maze kind of tube structure for the kids to run through. Of course, just last weekend Harry went to another birthday party at a bowling alley/arcade and I have no doubt that there will be plenty more to come. We've taken a very mild approach to birthday in the past, but I guess I've always thought that once Harry got into kindergarten we'd have to do a little bit more. The question, of course, is how much more? Are parties like these setting some kind of standard that we have to live up to? And are Harry expectations going to be appropriately met? We certainly want Harry to feel special on his special day, but is this a competition? There was certainly nothing like this when I was a kid, although Harry's mother says that girls often discussed who had the best parties and party favors.

After I'd stopped by and left the Funworld, Harry's mother was sitting with Rip's mother and idly asked, "so, where's [Rip's dad] today?" The answer came through a sudden rush of tears, "he's looking for an apartment."

Wow, that's the second long-time couple break-up we've heard of this month. I suppose couples break up all the time. Heck, both of my siblings are in second marriages now. But these two couples have young kids that are roughly the same age as our kids and so, arguably by extension, these two couples are roughly at the same point in life as we are. It's shocking and depressing.

I suppose at some point soon enough, since Rip is Harry's friend, I'm probably going to have to talk to Harry about parents not staying together.

Comments, Opinions?