Adam

Adam spent yesterday in Denver. For the past four years he has planned annual expeditions in July which included a day at an amusement park, dinner at a fun restaurant, and a movie at the IMAX theater. Each year we've taken a large number of friends and family with us and enjoyed Adam's funfest.

This year, because of my recent hip surgery, I opted out of the trip. DJ was unable to arrange his work schedule to accommodate the time off, and most of Adam's friends said they'd like to do dinner and the movie, but the amusement park wasn't something they were excited about. In the end, only one friend chose to participate in the entire day's activities and the rest made plans to meet Adam and Friend at the restaurant that evening.

Adam decided that he and Friend needed VIP passes at the amusement park which would allow them to go to the front of the line of any ride. He's wanted to buy the passes every year but has never been able to come up with the necessary extra money. So the passes were purchased and Adam could barely sleep the night before due to insane anticipation of the upcoming day of fun.

Yesterday, I drove Adam to Friend's house at 6:45 a.m. (Friend was driving). I told him it was silly to leave so early because they would arrive at the amusement park before it opened. He said they'd go get breakfast if that happened. I shrugged and said good-bye, asking him to please check in with me periodically so I would know he wasn't dead.

At 10:34 a.m. I received my first phone call:

Adam: Hi, Mom. I'm just checking in. 
me: I appreciate that. How are things going?
Adam: Fine. 
me: Fine?
Adam: Well, yeah.
me: You don't sound very excited. Is something wrong?
Adam: You know how we bought those VIP passes?
me: Yes.
Adam: Well, we thought it would be great because we'd get to ride lots of rides and have no wait, but it's not.
me: It's not great?
Adam: No.
me: Why not?
Adam: We feel bad. We keep cutting in front of people who have been standing in line for a long time. It's not fun.
me: You know, even if you have the passes, you don't have to cut. You could wait your turn, too.
Adam: But we paid for them!
me: Adam, you're weird.
Adam: I know. I'll check in with you later.
me: Okay. Bye.


About six hours later, I received a second call:

Adam: Hi, Mom. I'm just checking in again.
me: How are things going?
Adam: Well, around 12:30 we realized we'd ridden every ride we wanted to about three times, so we decided to leave.
me: Adam, you said you weren't going to drive around while you were there. You have Friend's parents' new car.
Adam: We didn't drive. We just walked around downtown. And we found the best hamburger restaurant. And it's a lot more fun than the amusement park, so I think we're just going to walk around some more and when it's time, we'll meet up with everyone else for dinner. 
me: Okay--but you're still weird.
Adam: I know. 
me: Check in with us when you head for home?
Adam: I will.


So Adam ended up having a marvelous time just walking around Denver with his friend and disregarding the large amount of money they both spent on amusement park passes. I would like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. I like him a lot, but he really is a weird kid.