Father's Day

Ten-year-old gives back

Last year on Father's Day, Brendan (on Marrianne's initiative) gave me an Ipod Shuffle. Then, as planned with Marrianne, I turned around and gave it to Brendan. This year, as his gift, Brendan performed a little concert of four songs he had written. He also gave the Shuffle back to me.

The concert was great. Brendan can write and carry a tune and shows little self-consciousness in performance.

The Shuffle had become superfluous. Brendan graduated from fifth grade this year, the transition point from elementary to middle school. So, after a little bit of parental discussion and a certain amount of 10-year-old nagging, we decided, OK, the boy actually has been a dedicated, enthusiastic young scholar, he gets a reward. We gave him a Nano.

And so, for Father's Day, I got a Shuffle. I'm going to clean off Brendan's music, mostly rap, but some Chipmunks. His music's not all bad, but as I understand it, you've got to wipe the chip clean on a Shuffle. There is no way to select one file out of many, then delete.

So, I'll delete everything, then develop my own playlist. I think I'll start with something raucous, something rebellious, something that won't remind me that I'm old enough to be Brendan's grandfather. Maybe the Pogues.