The other morning Huck did what so many children like him do to their parents, which is beg me to watch something he created in Minecraft.  I did what so many parents like me do, which is try to stifle the eye rolling dread that always accompanies such a request.  But then I looked more closely at the computer screen and realized he’d created something kind of amazing.  With a touch of the mouse, some magical thing happened with note blockers and repeaters (Minecraft-Speak) and suddenly the beautiful “Morning” from PEER GYNT SUITE was being played in his digital world. There was no eye rolling in sight, only awe.

This last week was Huck’s final intersession break from fifth grade, and so he had to choose an afternoon camp to attend each day. He looked over the list a while back and put them in order from best to worst, with archery at number one and acting at the very bottom, which was no surprise. But then he learned that his very close friend Esmé had chosen acting as her number one, and so without hesitation he did the same.  I was shocked, as there’s no child in America that hates theatre more than ours. Listening to him talk himself into it was like looking into a mirror, and my heart broke a little bit with each explanation.  If he’s anything like me, which he clearly is, he will always choose his favorite people over his favorite thing, because the right people make life better. He knows with Esmé he’ll feel cherished and cared about and his afternoons will be filled with belly laughter, and that will make acting camp better than archery. My heart breaks because this is not how most people live, so he’ll often feel like he’s overdressed while everyone else wears t-shirts, metaphorically speaking. On the plus side, he’s probably going to have a very happy life surrounded by his favorite people.

In the meantime over in my life, I’ve perfected a Tim Conway-esque shuffle around the house on account of my latest case of plantar fasciitis/heel spur combo. We’re a week and a day away from officially moving into our house, and our new refrigerator with Huck’s dream-come-true water/ice function on the outside gets delivered tomorrow. This afternoon Huck performs as the lead in his intersession camp play THE FROG PRINCE CONTINUED, a role he has taken so seriously that he re-wrote and re-typed the entire script and worked on his lines as if his life depended on it, once again making me feel like I have a twin in this world.

In the midst of the daily predictability that can be child-rearing, there are still surprises to be had.