Christina ~ May 16

 

Nick calls at 5:30 pm, an hour or so after I get back from my Spanish class, says they are in Hadley, can they come by and I say sure. I put on a nicer top and wash the few dishes in the sink and wait for them to come. Three year old, almost four year old Costa rushes in from the patio entrance as he always does with his excited “Grandma!” and Alaina smiles and we start making dinner for Costa and ourselves. Where’s Nick I ask. In the car, she says, in the parking lot, on the phone, he’s been driving for a while and hasn’t had a chance to look at his phone. After a bit, Nick opens the gate to the patio and joins us in the kitchen. We all sit at the kitchen table, Costa with his shells and cheese, the grownups with their shells and pesto and green salad. How is it? I ask Nick, and he says, With your salad, anything is good. And I smile for I’ve always been praised for my green salads, people who don’t even like green salad like mine for it is heavy on the vinegar and very simple, just baby spinach and red onion, tangy and delicious. Later, back up in the living room, Costa wants to take a walk, he wants to find puddles to jump into wearing his new black rain boots. He puts the two boots on the floor, lined up next to each other, with the left and the right boot in the correct places, puts his hand on the round table and steps into the boots. I look at him, in his black boots that he put on by himself, with no help from Alaina or me or Nick, and think of the little plump one year old who took some of his first steps in this room, lurching from couch to table, falling on his tush, getting up and trying it again. 

 

And all this is my apology, my explanation for why I forgot to call into our zoom meeting last night.