As I write on this beautiful Saturday fall morning, Troy and Huck are on their way to Kansas in a car packed with a few clothes, an iPad and lots of snacks.  Troy’s stepdad David is in Hospice with a brain tumor and all of our prayers and thoughts and love are with him and our beloved Nana.  It was exactly this time last year that Troy and Huck drove to Kansas to help his stepmom Laura with some details following his dad’s death.  Once again I find myself busy with a show, something new to our lives, and unable to go with them. And once again I find myself thankful that we are close enough for a spontaneous drive home.

Here are a few Huck bits that have brought me some smiles lately.  I was driving Huck and his friend Ravi somewhere the other day, and after turning on the new U2 album I was treated to a 9 year old back seat conversation that went something like this:

This is the new U2 album.
Oh yes.  I know.
It was free on iTunes.
Yes, we got it.
Have you listened to it?
Oh yes!
Do you like it?
Yes!  Do you?
Yes, I love it!

After enduring all those years of Kids Bop, this was literally music to mine ears.

A couple days ago on the way home from school Huck began telling me everything he was learning about the brain, and then he wanted to pretend like he’d had a lobotomy.  ”Uh, okay.  How do we play that?” I asked awkwardly.  No further information was given to me as he went into a terribly realistic lobotomy daze.  I tried to interact with him but he said nothing.  After a few blocks I told him this was the worst game I’d ever played.  And then I realized how nice and quiet it was making him and decided to enjoy it the rest of the way home.

Our friends Russell and Cheryl have been renovating their house for the past month, and they’ve also been hanging out with Huck while I’m at rehearsal and Troy’s still at work.  Though Huck may be the least helpful son that ever existed, he’s an extremely helpful friend to non-parents.  Russell and Cheryl discovered that his small size was perfect for putting the tile on their fireplace and painting some of their walls.  When my rehearsal schedule changed two days in a row and we did not need their help after all, I thought I was going to have to find a guidance counselor to get Huck through the disappointment of spending quality time with his tired mother instead of painting with his fun non-mothers.  As the weather gets cooler and the house gets more and more finished, we five daydream about sitting in front of that fireplace that Huck helped build.

It’s also that time of year when our Shana is here from New York to direct at TheatreSquared!  And this time she’s directing me in one of my very favorite plays.  I can’t put into words how wonderful and special it is, so just picture you at your happiest and then you’ll know what I’m experiencing these nights.

Fall.  You always come at the right time.