Sam Is Home!

"You have my whole heart. You always did.

You're the best guy. You always were."

-- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Queen and Jack of Hearts 11-27-14

"Catelyn wanted to run to him,
to kiss his sweet brow,

to wrap him in her arms so tightly
that he would never come to harm ..."

-- George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

My oldest son, Sam, is home for Thanksgiving. He got here yesterday.

He's a busy guy. He hasn't been home since returning to college in August, and I was really starting to miss him. 

We're having a very quiet, very small Thanksgiving Day at home. 

No travels. No company. No biggie.

It's what Sam requested. He has been working very hard at his grueling and relentless academic load and needs a chance to chill out and catch his breath before he goes back for the final stretch of the semester and exams.

So last night I cut his hair. He made a pumpkin pie. We went to a couple of stores for a couple of things. I bought him a tire gauge. We ordered pizza. We watched crappy television. Right now he's upstairs, sleeping in.

He's only here for a couple of days, but I'll take what I can get and try to give him what he needs and not bother him with what he doesn't. 

Having my whole little family home under one roof is what I'm most thankful for. My house is full, and so is my heart.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Packing the Last Lunch Of The School Year

"What sort of lunch is in that lunchbox?"

-- Winnie the Pooh, 

The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh

Leo's full lunchbox 6-2-14

"The practice of doing more than necessary works best

 when packing lunch boxes."

-- Josh Stern,

And That's Why I'm Single: 

What Good is Having a Lucky Horseshoe Up Your Butt 

When The Horse Is Still Attached?

According to Leo, the lunches I pack for him every day are a little bit legendary in the school cafeteria.

He says I've gotten mad  props from a few of his friends who look covetously at what he brings to eat.

I should get props. I pack great lunches.

These ain't no PB&J and an apple lunches, either. You won't find any lame-ass Lunchables in there. And with all due respect to Mrs. Obama, the school's "healthier" lunch isn't anywhere near good enough to feed to my boy -- it's not tasty enough, it's not healthy enough, and most of all, it's just not big enough.

A lunch like that might feed a third grader, but it won't cut the mustard with a 6' 1", 210 lb. slab of rock-solid, hungry muscle that burns through food like a coal furnace.

Leo's typical lunch, on any given day, includes two thick sandwiches layered with lean ham, turkey and chicken with lettuce and mayo on whole wheat, a protein bar, mixed nuts, applesauce, yogurt, homemade hummus with sliced carrots, a meat stick, and fresh fruit (usually strawberry slices or 2 or 3 clementine oranges.)  I pack it in as tight as I can, filling every square inch of available space. Toss in a plastic spoon, a napkin, and a bottle of water in the outside pocket and the whole thing weighs in at about five pounds, give or take.

I can pack a lot of love into a lunchbox.

I do this routine five nights a week. I even did it when Leo missed so many days of school due to winter weather closings. I kept packing his lunches, just in case. And if school was closed, he just ate lunch out of his lunchbox at our dinner table.

I'm happy to feed my growing son a healthy lunch that he can enjoy. But there comes a time, like now, when packing a lunch just feels like one more thing I have to do. So with the long school year finally winding to a close, I'm looking forward to a much-needed reprieve from the tyranny of the lunchbox.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying sometimes it feels really good to get a break.

Of course I'll still have to feed Leo all summer. So, of course I'll still be making his lunches. But I won't have to stuff it all into little plastic zip-bags and pack it up the night before or realize at 11 p.m. on a Sunday night that I forgot to make hummus.

And in the summer, we can eat lunch together, which is the part I like best. Lunchtime is a pretty lonely affair for me most days.

Now I get to sit at the cool kids' table with that really hot guy. The big one with all the muscles. Yeah, him.

I hope he talks to me.