Alexander

Alexander, the 24 year old son, is home for the weekend.  Odd reason:  he wants to take the GRE next week and he needed a place for focused study and review so he comes back to the 'rents house for a few days.  As he sat across from us in the living room this afternoon, I was flooded with memories of Alexander the little boy.  As a baby he smiled all the time.  There was only one time in his first year when he cried and we could not figure out what the issue was and , even that time, he stopped his howling in less than an hour.  As an exuberant yet calm toddler, he remained sunny and engaging.  His first day of kindergarten, he was excited. He just walked right in to Room 1, sat right down, and got down to the business of school - all happy and sure of himself.  Elementary school brought some rough patches, middle school was, from where we sat, a success and high school was, again from our perspective, a period of growth and engagement for Alex.  Off to college he went - full of confidence, happy about his choice and jazzed to be stepping out on his own.  His college path was not direct - six years of traveling a bit of a maze but we were privileged to watch a compassionate, thoughtful, fun, healthy man emerge from that puzzle.  And now that man is thinking about pursuing a life of balance - intellectual, physical, family, fun - wrapped in a bit more education.  How interesting to watch him unfold!