Yum yum...

I love a good donut, and I love any family event at Mark's school. This morning, those loves converged.

It was the annual Dad's donut day, and though I'm technically not a father, I figure I taught the kid to throw a baseball, and that's gotta count for something. (Let's not bring up the neighbor's window, huh?) Besides, Mark's regular proxy father (his grandpa) is out sailing the seven seas and feasting on soft serve ice cream, so someone had to step up.

It was also Mark's debut with the school jazz band, who played during breakfast. The band already has a drummer, so Mark's biding his time until that kid goes off to high school next year. Until the drums free up, Mark plays the...bells. (I don't know how bells made the cut as a percussion "instrument.") I was picturing hand bells a la The New Girl (Eye of the Tiger! Ensembell!), but they really turned out to be some sort of xylophone-type thing. Which just kinda confused me, but I was proud of his performance none-the-less.

I know, this isn't the best picture. Musicians are moody--I had to use the "No picture, no donut" threat just to get this photo.

The band sounded really good. They played a Christmas tune, a few jazz standards, "La Bamba," and one song that was either the "Winnie the Pooh" theme or "Let's Fall in Love." They also played "Blue Skies," which Mark serenaded me with before school--love me a boy that knows Irving Berlin!

After the concert, Mark headed straight for the donuts. (Or, as my friend Kelley calls them dismissively, "Fried dough and sugar." As in, Kelley: "I don't like donuts, because all they are is fried dough and sugar." Heather: "Exactly! What's not to like???")

Mark then went outside, where he tried to dodge me numerous times, since hanging with your mom at school is about as cool as...oh, wait, nothing. There's nothing cool about hanging out with your mom when you're a middle schooler. So he tried to ditch me a couple times, but I'm quick. I kept on him like the sprinkles on a donut.

To Mark's relief, the bell rang shortly after, and we headed to his computer class, where I realized too late that all the other moms angling for a free donut had left. It was just me, the kids and the dads. I apologized to Mark in my head, but he was already annoyed I was there, so my gender didn't annoy him any more than he already was.

I was a little freaked out by Mark's friends, though. They're all too old for the after school kid's club now, so I don't see them on a daily basis like I used to. I haven't seen some of them since summer, and they've shot up like weeds. They've also lost their little baby faces, and they definitely look like young men now. Young men who are taller than me, and whose voices are starting to change a bit. And don't even get me started on the hair flipping...I owe Justin Beiber a punch in the head for introducing that nervous tic to America's tweens.

Anyway...we said the Pledge of Allegiance as a group, then watched the special Dad's day video presentation. This year, Mark's class starred in it, and there was a very nice shot of Mark reading a book upside down. He pointed it out to me twice. I'm awfully proud.

The dads started slipping out right after the video. I giggled a bit, because that right there is the difference between the dad's day and the mom's day events--the moms stay in class almost the whole first period--the teachers just about kick them out. I always feel guilty because I'm the first mom to sneak out (I can only take so much map-making with beans, or other such crafts), but here, finally, was my moment to shine as an involved parent. I blinked my eye and all the dads were gone. I was the last man--err, mom--standing. Winner!

And with that, I was done. I resisted the urge to kiss Mark on the head in front of his peers (social death by embarrassment), and patted him on the back instead.

"I'm outta here," I said. I whispered our daily morning goodbye--"Do good, be good" and then I was gone.

It was such a good morning that I whistled happily the whole walk home--"Winnie the Pooh," I think, or maybe it was "Let's Fall in Love." Whatever. It just felt good to be Mom again.