Reflections on the Second Week of Fall

 

Spencer Charles, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and I, in long sleeves, long pants, and the heating pad wrapped around my right arm, gathered around the coffee table for a cooperative, strategy game called Pandemic. We conferred to cure diseases that spread across the world map with each turn. We build research stations, quashed outbreaks, and saved humanity three games in a row. Other games we played were competitive: backgammon that Aunt Marge had taught him; Yatzee that had cats' ears twitching toward rolling dice; Ticket to Ride that placed plastic trains across the continent, and Words with Friends that had us typing scrabble words on electric devises every spare moment. His vacation week brought comfort and memorable moments–a walk under blue skies and yellow leaves, his from-scratch pizza dough, his writing tips for showing emotions in my turkey story, pain management tactics, dish washing help, audio book suggestions, post office chaffering, and always his loving attention. Never underestimate the power of a son's loving attention to calm and delight his mother.