Transitions:

The shirt says 'EASY'... he isn't

     I try to regularly write for the blog, but sometimes I'm stuck story-less for weeks because nothing happens! But, being who I am, when I don't have anything to occupy my mind, my mind occupies itself. I start drawing parallels between things that may or my not actually relate. And thus I find myself (and you), here.
     Dave is currently in the 'transition' stage for all his programs. Technically he's in the beginning stages of moving from juvenile (delinquent) to adult programs.Ms Antoniades (Anton-yet-ease) is the Special Ed supervisor at Dave's new school district and she told me it was time to start David's 'Transition'. This got me thinking about the word, and what it means, (Well that, and the fact that I had nothing else to write about.) so I looked it up.
Transition:
       noun
             1.    Movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to               another; ex: the transition from adolescence to adulthood. 

Evil little smile... 

Well, that certainly fits, and we started that process by visiting a handicapped 'labor camp'. Okay, it isn't actually a labor camp, it's a nice place where people with disabilities get to work at a job, earn money and generally feel productive. They never told me how much they get paid... probably afraid I'd apply. Ms. Anton-etc took us on the tour, and Dave really seemed sort-of interested, but generally unwilling to participate. Mostly, I think, because there was no game-controller involved. But he did seem to think it was cool that everyone else had a job. The staff seemed wonderful-ish and they all made certain I knew that no decision was final, and that I could change my mind at any time, but by the same token they were continually asking Dude if this was something he wanted to do. He always replied 'Yes' and that brightened everyone up until I explained that he would answer 'yes' if you asked him if he wanted to be a fire engine. I got the impression they thought I was impious or something. Ms A was really pushing for Dave to go to this particular program, in a nice, friendly way. She did make the mistake of trying to play to my sympathies (as if I have any), by waxing a bit poetic about how it would be a much shorter trip (4 miles) there than say.... New Horizon school, which is about 20 miles away. I interrupted her before she got too far. I told her I  understand that the school district is small, and that Dude is one of the only, if not the only child from the district going to NH, and that it was costing the District a bit more to keep him there. And that she should have started with that premise because Dave loves riding the bus (van), the only way he could like it more is if it went through Pittsburgh, picked up a couple of Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers and some Mac and Cheese before it turned completely around and took him to school. And that I would have to make my choice based on what I thought would be best for him, not the School District as a whole. (selfish I know, but hey, I'm Dude's dad. Let all those other parents dig for their own) They also have a more 'social' program that's even closer, just across the river in Cory (Coraopolis... yeah, I know. I can't figure out how they got 'Cory' out of that either), and also one or two more in the general area. I'm really not too sure what or where they were... her voice was kind of muffled and I missed the salient parts. So everyone left the tour either feeling unsatisfied (Ms. A and staff) or confused and only vaguely informed (yours truly)
    Not knowing what else to do I went back to my 'transition' definition:

              2.     Music
                            a.   a passage from one key to another; modulation
                            b.   a brief modulation; a modulation used in passing
                            c.    a sudden, unprepared modulation

   I'm not sure even I can stretch any kind of metaphor out of that one. Except for 'c' David is a series of sudden, unprepared modulations of random types, mostly vocal.
     So back to the definition I went:

             3.     a passage from one scene to another by sound effects, music, etc., as in a television program, theatrical production, or the like.

     Okay, this one I had a bit more luck with. We are definitely passing from one scene to another and Dude is a series of sounds and effects. Oh and he is a total theatrical production. (Oh! The Pain! The Pain! There could be internal bleeding!) But really, it didn't help me much, so I moved on.

       verb 
            4.      to make a transition: He had difficulty transitioning from enlisted man to officer.

     So far Dave isn't the one having difficulty with the 'transition'...(sorry, 'Transition', they always say it like it has a capital letter) so I was left pretty much to my own devices. I pick up trivia like a Sham-Wow! sucks soda through a carpet, so I entered the word into the aging database, rattled it around for a while, spun a prayer wheel, lit some incense, sacrificed a goat (well, lamb... it was a gyro) and waited for the results to come bubbling to the surface.
   The word itself is about movement. Physical, emotional, metaphysical, sight or sound. Moving on, moving along going around. Going from here to there, one thing or another. It's enough to make you tired just thinking about it.

Concentration...

   And then I thought about it again.  In physics, any time there's a radical change in vector, or direction, there's a brief instant when all motion stops. A breath, or a pause or a period of time, no matter how infinitesimal when all movement ceases and force must be applied to continue motion. I think Dave and I are at that moment in our 'transition'. Readying the turn, but still coasting down the old path on momentum.