Vincent's Derby weekend?

Vincent’s latest plan: Drop off a job application at the 4th Street Live Borders Books and Music store Thursday. Meet his friend Alex and go have dinner with Alex’s family at their home near Holiday Manor. Get up early Friday (Oaks Day – still a day off in the Jefferson County (KY) Public Schools and go over to his friend Samantha’s to help her clean her room (We’ll see if he did his weekly chores and laundry and cleaned his own room before leaving for Borders.)

The next part becomes fuzzy in my mind: At some point Friday he hopes that he and Sam can connect with his father, said to be on his way from Florida to Ohio. Later in the day – or first thing Saturday morning, after spending the night with the Davises? – he’s going to travel with them to Marietta, where some of my maternal ancestors are from and which Stephanie, Vincent, and I visited 11 years ago this month, to pick Sam’s sister up – after the end of spring semester – from Marietta College (pictured above) (where our counselor 11 years ago had gone).It’s unclear to me when they’ll be back. I guess Vincent won’t be going to the Pegasus Parade with us (weather permitting) this year. Our Derby Eve/Derby plans still aren’t clear.

P.S. Some changes in plans: It turns out that what Vincent was going to do with Alex tonight (although we still think Vincent is meeting people too close to school and then also coming home smelling like smoke from hanging out with smokers) was something we approve of. Alex, a friend of Vincent from last summer’s Denmark trip, went with another friend with whom Vincent hasn’t hung out yet to see another friend of Vincent – who he has also not seen much lately – get awarded his Eagle Scout paraphernalia at a nearby synagogue. We definitely approve of Vincent reconnecting with old friends (friends who we mainly like). Vincent had told his friend – not really joking – that he might not go because he didn’t believe in the Boy Scouts (and not so much because of their sexual orientation discrimination), even though Vincent was once a Tiger Cub.

Also, it turns out that Vincent is going with the David family to Marietta relatively early Friday morning. Because his father wasn’t due here until later Friday, he fibbed and told his father we were going to see one of Vincent’s maternal grandmothers in Ohio – because Vincent didn’t want to tell him that he was choosing going on a trip with his girlfriend instead of seeing his father. Vincent’s father stops by so rarely and Samantha goes out of town so rarely that it’s kind of too bad. I know he was looking forward to them meeting each other – but that wasn’t going to work – it turns out – no matter who he chose to hang out with because – unless their cars cross between Lexington and Cincinnati – the girlfriend and father were to be two different places Friday. We’ll see if this puts pressure on us to offer to bring Sam with us if we go to Ohio for Memorial Day weekend.

-- Perry