Last week while Phil was out of town on business, the school principal called to tell me that she spoke with “Kind Sir” during recess, and that he seemed very anxious, sitting with the dandelions, blowing the soft petals in the wind with his eyes closed. “I’ve never seen him like that.” He was concerned that Phil’s plane would land safely in Florida, that he’d get his chocolate chip cookies snack on JetBlue, and mostly our sweet LB doesn’t like it when Papa is away. They share “a bond, Mama. How many times must I explain this to you?”
“What is this bond thing, Lucas?”
“It is a snuggle.”
“But I snuggle you! Why don’t we have a bond?”
“Because you have spiky legs!”
“What? So if I suddenly became a hairless cat–”
“No, not a cat! A hairless person. Yes. A hairless mama. Yes. Then, and only then, we will have a bond.”

A Spring/Summer Door Wreath I made in a fit of Spring Cleaning: Welcome Home!

Phil is outstanding about calling at breakfast time, asking if everyone has taken their fluoride multivitamin, “Is your folder in your backpack?” And he calls at just the right time. Me, away from home, I’d be on my own schedule, in my own world. But Phil tries to replicate the routine we have in place, assuring them that he’ll be home soon, having them count the days on their fingers. And once he does arrive home safely, expecting to be greeted with warm snuggles and joyous questions about gifts, instead he must ask for hugs, because the beans are busy bonding with their spiky-legged mama. And, so it goes.