January 3, 2015

  • The Road to 65, Mile 35: The New Adults in the Room

    January 2, 2015-  I keep looking at Millennials, my son’s generation, and seeing, on the one hand, my extended brood of children.  On the other hand, I’m in awe of how they are handling, as a generation, just about every task that has landed in their laps.

    I went down to Mesa, Arizona’s third largest city, to spend the afternoon with my son, as he is winding up his holiday leave- spent with friends from his high school days.  We had a delectable lunch at Bavarian Pointe, a German eatery, as you might have deduced, going for a full meal-complete with soup, hot entrees and dessert crepes.  The waitress showered us with attention and I will recommend the place on Yelp!, which I don’t always do.

    Our planned hike, at Usery Mountain Regional Park, in Mesa’s northeast corner, necessitated heading back to his friends’ house, and getting mother and daughter.  Daughter is 3 years old, so I suggested a hike in the foothills, which the little girl said she could “do easy”.  Well, she did it easily- uphill, downhill, 8/10 of a mile.  My son, his high school classmate and her daughter are shown below.

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    Here are some scenes of the Merkle Hills, which we hiked.

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    We started off, trying to decipher the rather rudimentary map given us at the entry station.  Something told me to suggest parking ahead of a roundabout, midway in the park.  We then walked about 1/2 mile further east, and found Merkle Hills trailhead.  The above trail satisfied one and all, and just as Son was preparing himself for a lengthy walk back to the vehicle- Friend looked down and exclaimed, “The Jeep!”  There it was, right at the foot of the exit trail, whose sign was hidden behind some lush Sonoran Desert growth.

    The Universe does take care of us, in some rather unforeseen ways.  I guess that’s why it’s the Universe, and we are peas in a pod.  When we returned to the friends’ house, Male Friend was there, waiting for his love and his soon-to-be stepchild.  His game plan was to prepare chili dogs for the lot of us.  So, while we waited, I was offered the use of their movie collection- looking in the “family section”, I chose “Charlotte’s Web”, the movie with Dakota Fanning, and Julia Roberts, as Charlotte, and a very happy three-year-old was occupied nicely until dinner.  I was greeted warmly by the family’s very own lap cat, “William”.  He spent several joyous minutes, sitting on my lap, snuggling and purring.

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    The little girl had to put on her coat, before going somewhere with her mother, and asked me to help her zip the coat.  After a bit of tussling with the plastic fastener- mission accomplished!  Getting back to my comment at the beginning of this post, it is ever-gratifying to see the rising generation take on, successfully, the challenges of parenthood, leadership and the various crap that adults have to handle, put their own stamp on all of it- often without a personal vehicle, and make it all happen nicely.  Millennials have their share of problems, as does every generation, but we’re in good hands, folks, as I’ve said on this site a few times.

Comments (6)

  • Hello. Looks like a good place to grow.

  • It is a wonderful city for families and children.

  • Many Americans can read my mind :)

  • and they read it right. Many Vietnamese here just read it wrong.

  • A good visit with your son and his friend and a nice hike too! Children seem to be astute judges of character - glad you passed the "3 yr old" test!

  • True, and funny how our accumulated baggage lets some loose bolts slip through the character meter, as we get older.

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