Thursday, August 26, 2010

What Did I Get Myself Into?

As readers of this blog may or may not know, I'm a HUGE fan of The University of Notre Dame (and Notre Dame Football). You also could possibly be aware that, since I started writing this blog, it has been peppered with references to Gilmour Academy. Gilmour is a private school - lower, middle and upper - that was founded by the same fine folks who founded Notre Dame. Gilmour faculty don't mind telling you about the affiliation either. Upper school kids are encouraged to volunteer their time at the lower and middle schools and in the community. There are also regular "field trips" to South Bend. You can imagine my joy when daughter was born and I found out about all this. And then came "The Great Push," during which I made it known that no daughter of mine would ever set foot in a Cleveland school. My friends and family scoffed and said "But you live in Cleveland, so chances are..." To which I replied, Gilmour. And then everyone laughed even harder. And now I know why. I'm all for kids volunteering their time and admiring expensive cars and the people that drive them from afar, but now I'm in the thick of it. Last night was parent night for the Montessori preschool and traditional kindergarten. And wife and I were slightly blown away. Everyone is so expensive looking and their cars cost more than my house. There was a Panamera there and that starts at five grand more than what I live in is worth. There were people on boards and people with foundations and people with three and four kids who all go to Gilmour at the same time. To get a sense of what that many kids means monetarily: Montessori preschool is ~10k. The tuition doubles at kindergarten. And I'm expected to give back. Not just with my time but also by donating money to the school. As I sat there in my Docker's from Kohl's (K-Mart) and looked at women's wedding diamonds that were literally the size of blueberries all I could think was Holy Shite. At the end of the night, as wife and I climbed into the five year-old Corolla, we were reduced to pulling out some classic Stuart Smalley. As an added bonus, it's a St Patrick's Day clip. Go Irish! Oh yeah, I did ask and no, I cannot chaperone a South Bend trip.

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