Saturday, April 18, 2020

I find myself becoming wildly nostalgic about the way life was before the quarantine, and today's thought focused on my eight-year old son Nyles. Back when he could actually attend school, he would wake up and make his bed at 7am--a full hour before we had to leave. He would leave his room without getting dressed, place his homework and his lunch in his backpack, put the backpack on, and then come in my bedroom where my wife and I were sleeping. He would go to each side of the bed, give us both a hug and say good morning to both of us. He was just so unabashedly excited about going to school, and getting his backpack ready.

After that, Nyles would eat breakfast, watch his morning program of choice (Ninjago, Captain Underpants, etc), and he would just discuss what was coming up at school, and again, he was just dripping with enthusiasm and whimsy. I would often joke that I wished I had that level of joy about anything. I enjoy my job don't get me wrong, but I'm not walking around my house with my laptop bag and pajamas. Not even close.

My wife and I try to maintain some semblance of Nyles's routine in hopes that he will remain excited, but we've had mixed results. He still makes his lunch the night before "school", and we still start the school day at 9am sharp. When school starts via Zoom, he loves to hear the voices of his teachers and colleagues, but that only comes in 20-30 minute bursts (that's what she said). And trying to convince him to do 6 hours of work in the same building where he sleeps, showers, and watches television, is the toughest of tough sells. But we press on...

Thank you for humoring me, I'm just simultaneously rambling and reminiscing...


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