Yesterday the boys across the street came to say goodbye to Nathaniel. It’s good they did, because we had no time today.
Dennis is a couple of years older than Nathaniel and was over here many times when he wasn’t working at Burger King. The fellows had fierce Nerf gun wars and Backgammon battles. Both were always willing to eat any homemade dessert that needed to be removed from the old folks’ reach, strictly for their health, of course. There were card games, balloon battings, rescuing of an airplane after wild launchings, and running of trains on the front porch. The one thing I know they both wanted to do and didn’t was climb the 200 year-old oak tree.
Logan, 5, loved all the action when the trains were running. He was a human tunnel at times, and he rearranged the loads to his satisfaction. The boys here will start school in five days, whereas Nathaniel has over three weeks to go. He was looking forward to spending time with his dad.
We were listing some of the things we’d miss when Nathaniel returned home. He kept the grandfather clock wound, as he used to do in NY. Cleaning the hummingbird feeders was a help to me. He kept the water fountains and bird baths from running out of water and polished brass items. He entertained himself while we were on our computers, willingly shopped with us, and did some yard work and cleaned gutters. As usual, we enjoyed teasing him with puns. He claims to detest them, but he came up with countless good ones that made us groan.
Nathaniel demonstrated the best way to move his four hats to the car – wearing them all on his head at once. The top one was a conductor’s hat which he may have worn at a train club in Tennessee. He kept us laughing, which is probably what we will miss most of all.
Mehrling Muse 