Four August Mornings

August, 1978
I’m riding in the back seat of my mom’s car, a maroon Mercury Zephyr station wagon, on the way to my first day of school. I’m a little nervous, but upon entering the room I see a Star Wars picture book displayed prominently on Mrs. Cove’s bookshelves, and I decide things will probably be okay. We just recently moved to Sun Valley, and I can’t wait to get home from school and start exploring the neighborhood on my bicycle.

August, 1988
It’s the first day of tenth grade and I’m riding my motorcycle to school. Last year (at the age of 14) I was one of the only kids riding a bike to school, but this year my friend Lewis has one too, and we’re riding to school together. Strapped to the back of our motorcycles are our skateboards, in case we discover any good skate spots along the way to or from school.

August, 1998
Susan and I just celebrated our third wedding anniversary. It’s been two years since we moved to Spokane, Washington, and four months since we moved back to Oklahoma. After crashing a month at my dad’s house, we’ve purchased our first “real” house together back in Yukon, the town both Susan and I grew up in. To celebrate our return to Yukon (and my birthday) we throw “Robbika,” a giant birthday celebration.

August, 2008
Susan and I just celebrated our 13th anniversary. Susan was just promoted to Supervisor of her branch at the FAA, and I celebrated my fifth anniversary with LMIT earlier this year. Earlier this month at the Oklahoma Videogame Expo I debuted my second book, Invading Spaces. Susan’s out of town this week, so it was my job to drop Mason off at first grade this morning and take Morgan to daycare.