Marcy thinks Tom Waits is a homeless man.

I had Max when I was sooooo young. And my ideas about 'raising' children were and are very different from lots of people - I am convinced partly BECAUSE I was so young. I was so young when I had Max, that I distinctly remembered being a child myself, and having thoughts like, "I am NOT going to be a hypocrite like my parents, or lie to my kids. They'll know it, anyway, if they're smart."

That was just one thought that I had, remaining from my days as a pretty smart 11 and 12 yr old, looking straight at my parents as they said "Don't do drugs.", when I had JUST seen them go over to our neighbor's house to smoke pot. But there were other thoughts, too. For instance, the first school I put Max into in LA was called the Page School. It's still there - down on Larchmont. He hated it, and I hated it. He hated it because his teacher was old and fat and yelled at him, and he had to sit at a desk as a FIVE year old boy all day, except for 2 short recess breaks. I hated it for the same reasons AND because when I came to pick him up,(often early), all of the boys were playing war games on one side of the playground, and all of the girls were on the OTHER side - NOT interacting - and playing with dolls. It was supposed to be a "respectable" private school with uniforms and high test marks - but I just DIDN'T get it. So, I let Max miss as many days as we could there, dragged him around to auditions with me instead, and started to look for a more inspired school. That's right - INSPIRED! I happen to think teaching future generations SHOULD be as INSPIRED as possible.

And after searching, I found The Oaks. The Oaks was a school inside of a beautiful church building, but not religious at all, with a progressive way of teaching, where a first grade little boy would NOT be required to sit STILL at a DESK for most of the day. And it was CLOSE, AND class started at 9am!!!! Glory hallelujah! I LOVED Max's first grade teacher, and she loved Max. It was a big ole' LOVE-fest at The Oaks all the way through 5th grade (when it was over).

Anyway, I made friends with the couple that lived right down the street from our new house (the house I still live in), and Max made friends with their little boy, Nick, before first grade even started. Nick Fink was an adorable, funny child, and his parents were super cool - his dad worked at Cal Arts, and his Mom (Marcy) made fantastic barbecued chicken, and they lived in one of the COOLEST houses in the Hollywood Hills.

The first day of school, I was there, as were many parents, sort of hanging about - just seemed like we were all so PLEASED to have our kids in this very WORTHY school. I have always postulated that a school can be judged FIRST by the children that attend, and secondly by the parents that send their children there. Or maybe that should be reversed. In any case... the kids AND the parents at The Oaks School, that first day, seemed reluctant to go home. It was a party atmosphere. These kids were going to have FUN! And maybe learn something while they were at it. All the grownups just wanted to stay. ILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIEILOVESOPHIE

Ok, Sophie just wrote all that while I was in the bathroom, taking a leak. It's TOOOOOO damn funny, so I'm leaving it in!

Among the parents who couldn't seem to leave that first day were myself, Marcy, her husband (Mike), and a scruffy man with wild curly hair who had arrived late, and kept growling at his little boy, "Casey. Everything ok here? I don't want to be called in the middle of the day...just take it easy, ok, kid?"
His little boy, Casey, was paying NO attention to his father. Casey and Max had already entered into the full-on party atmosphere of the first day, and I left feeling a little sorry for that sweet teacher.

The weekend after school started, Marcy and Michael Fink threw a birthday party for Nick, right down the street from me. It was a great way for the parents to get to know each other, and the kids, come to think of it. Marcy made her great chicken, the kids slipped around on a 'slip and slide', and it was a super fun day. And as Marcy sat down next to me on the steps (they had these endless steps up to the house from their front lawn), she put her hand on my shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially.
"What do you think of the school?" she asked me.
"Oh - it's great. Max already loves it."
"I just think they are SO progressive.." Marcy said.
"Oh yea." I agreed. "You should have seen Max's school LAST year. It really sucked. He thought he was going to prison every day."
"And I LOVE that they are so generous with scholarships and things.." Marcy continued, as her husband sat down next to her.
"I mean, did you SEEE that one family? That one FATHER? I think they're homeless...but I mean, that's SO great that the school is going that far."
"What are you talking about?" interjected Michael, her husband.
"That one homeless man on the first day of school. I'm pretty sure he's homeless.SUCH a cute kid, though."
"The one in the brown jacket?" Michael asked her incredulously.
"YEeeeessss..." Marcy drew it out.
"That's TOM WAITS. He's not HOMELESS. He's one of my all time HEROES! I can't BELIEVE you though he was HOMELESS!" Michael burst into laughter, and then we ALL burst into laughter.
"That's TOM WAITS??!!?" Marcy said as we all choked on our chicken from laughter.
"YES!" Michael replied. "I can't believe you didn't recognize him!"
I was having so much fun, and laughing so hard, I couldn't say a thing.
Michael (who taught MUSIC at Cal Arts) just looked at me and shook his head.

Well, you never know, do you?

Casey Waits turned out to be Max's best friend through fifth grade and beyond, and a little demon child (in the beginning)...but that's another story, for another night.

Well, maybe a FEW stories.