the best of times…

Imagine: your daughters are grown, they’re heading forth in life, they’re fun, funny, wise, anxiously protective of you – all that, and you have this beautiful week-end together, imagine!

Don’t tell anyone, but I was sick, starting on the day I arrived. The kind of virus that I hardly ever get anymore. The kind that starts in your head and works its way to every pore of your body. The kind that you do not want to pass on to anyone, least of all your very busy daughters.

I always thought that it was a challenge to parent well when you yourself are sick. But it becomes especially so when you have so few days with your children.

And so I basically ignored the viral nuisance. And if someone will ask me whether I remember being sick this Thanksgiving, I’ll have to say no. All I remember, even now, are the mornings over cups of tea, over pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the walks, the music, the food, yes, most definitely the food.

And the walk this afternoon up and down King Street in Alexandria.