MATTHEW BAUM
Staff Scallywag
I’ve had a lot of time to hang out with my family this semester. From August 25 on, I spent a lot of time separated from them, and even though I would call once a week, I couldn’t help but feel like we grew apart. I had to make sure that my classes and extracurricular responsibilities were being taken care of, and I felt like the people who raised me weren’t going to go anywhere, so I could put them on the back burner. As it turns out, my family got so much cooler when I went away to college.
My dad, Marc Baum, works for a pharmacy chain that has stores in Vermont and Central New York. He volunteers at a museum dedicated to the author of the Wizard of Oz books, and he has served on the Chambers of Commerce of a few close towns for a number of years. He’s funny, and supports me in everything I do, but I never thought of him as especially exciting. Well apparently since I left the house, my dad has gotten involved with a competitive archery group. He set up a shooting range in our backyard, and he spends the entirety of his Sundays “kickin’ back and drawin’ back.” He sends videos of his favorite trickshots to a Facebook group called The Rockin’ and Rollin’ Recurve Gang, and for the last few weeks he’s been making me stand in front of his bullseye with an apple on my head. He never misses the apple, but I had to shave my head after he gave me an inverse mohawk.
My mom, Jennifer Baum, works at a veterinary clinic, and she has found a new passion — amateur archeology. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, she would carpool six of her gal pals to dig sites and get to work on unearthing prehistoric pottery and currency. Her collection is huge, and she’s filled one of our china cabinets with polished obsidian arrowheads. She’s had to put a lock on the door because my dad keeps trying to lace one up to shoot. Nowadays, she keeps buying ceramic pots — six at a time — and smashing them just so she can glue them back together.
Finally, Colton, my younger brother. He is currently a sophomore in high school, and he was involved with the audio-visual kids that put on the various dramatic productions there. It seems that he’s also begun to practice the mystic arts, like any bored 16-year-old would do. He carries this book with a leather dust sleeve on it, and he doesn’t let anyone open it except himself. He’s got a tattoo on his left arm that shifts and swirls, and I have found him standing on the ceiling of his room four times now.
With everyone in my family finding such fulfillment in their personal growth, I can’t help but feel like I’ve been holding them back. They are all so talented, and I spend my Saturday mornings making up stories for a school newspaper. I don’t know. Maybe I should take up a new hobby, like juggling or fencing or alchemy. Something to fill the day, making me learn something in addition to academics.
This pandemic season, find something to do so you can keep up with your family that has outgrown you. That way, you don’t have to feel like you were the speed bump in your family’s trajectory for all those years.