We had a true Godparents’ Day in Massachusetts, though I didn’t tumble to it until the end of the day. We visited niece Chrissie and Chris in the ski resort where they live, and from there we drove near Boston to see nephew Anders and his daughter Rowan (4). We are godparents for both Chrissie and Anders. It was marvelous to see them both on the same day.

We steeped ourselves in conversation with Chrissie and Chris. We began in their condo and continued in a restaurant overlooking the ski lifts.

I loved hearing them talk about the skiers and snowboarders coming down the slopes. They pointed out an instructor with his young charges and commented on the relaxed form of a good snowboarder. At the end of the meal, John and I could have picked out beginning boarders by their arms stretched out for balance. A couple of skiers wiped out at the end of the run. The child hopped right up, but the woman struggled valiantly before a man came over to give her a hand.

All too soon we had to leave, but we had enjoyed every minute with them.

Anders was just coming home with his daughter when we arrived. Some children are painfully shy, but she danced out of the car and ran to introduce herself. She said, “My name is Rowan.”

The four of us went to a marvelous supermarket down the street and chose take-out food from a buffet bar. We don’t have anything that like that near our home. Rowan painted with water colors as we ate, leaning over for a bite of food every now and then. She was delightfully irrepressible and fun to watch. We missed seeing Anders’ wife, Caroline, who was working in New York for a few days.

Anders gave us a tour of the new attic bathroom which we will be the first to use. It is a marvel.

After Rowan was in bed, Anders showed John a model engine he has outfitted with a camera. They had fun discussing a project for using it.