Boston – A Visit in October 10.24.21

James,

As I sit on this plane at the gate in Boston getting ready to depart for Atlanta for my 31st annual national senior living conference, I cannot help but reflect on how much fun your grandma Gizzy and I had with you and your family (including Odin) over the past four days. What a visit!  

We came to Boston to help take care of you while your parents attended their good friend Ryan Henner’s wedding in Newbury Town, Massachusetts. Your dad was in the wedding. Evidently, the wedding was beautiful and your mom and dad had a great time. 

When we arrived on Wednesday evening, we enjoyed a beautifully prepared charcuterie board, something your mom takes great pride in making. After happy conversation over a bottle of Pinot Noir, we retired for the night.

The next day your mom started a 24-hour shift at the Hospital. So, your dad and Gizzy took you shopping while I prepared my presentation for a conference I would attend after our visit in Boston. We then played in the apartment before I left to take Odin to beautiful Muddy Bottom for a run. Before dinner, your dad and I went to a local whiskey tasting shop. After we returned, we sipped on one of the whiskeys we had bought and ordered Ethiopian food for dinner. While we enjoyed our dinner, we fed you yogurt, sweet potatoes and avocado in your high-chair. As always, watching you eat is so entertaining. After giving you a bath to clean off much of your dinner, we had play time, and then went to bed. 

On Friday morning, I went for a run up to Corey Park, which sits on a hill overlooking Boston. After my run, I bought a smoked salmon bagel sandwich at one of the many sandwich shops near Coolidge Corner and sat down in one of the inviting Adirondack Chairs in front of the Multi-Denominational Church on Harvard Street. Sitting there in the morning autumn sun, I enjoyed my sandwich and orange juice, and watched Brookline wake up. I do love Brookline. 

After lunch, your dad left for Newbury Town for the wedding rehearsal dinner. When your mom returned home from the hospital after delivering four babies during her 24-hour shift, she and Gizzy played with you most of the day.  Finally, Gizzy and I took Odin for a walk while Gizzy’s awesome tortilla chicken stew, which we would have for dinner, simmered in the crock pot.  

During our walk, you and your mom took a much-deserved power nap. And it must have been a power nap because after dinner you became the energetic “jumping man”.  Your mom, Gizzy and I watched you constantly jump up and down in your crib for almost 30 minutes. While you were holding onto the edge of your crib jumping with pure delight, we were holding onto our ribs from laughing so hard. Watching you jump with glee was pure entertainment. Maybe our laughter encouraged you. What joy…

The next morning, I awoke around 5:30 a.m. and ran with Odin in the chilly autumn air to the dog park where we played fetch. As we walked back alone to your apartment in the quilted silence of dawn, I reflected on a book that I was currently rereading, “A Moveable Feast”, and your mom and dad’s current life.  “A Moveable Feast”, written by my favorite author, is Ernest Hemingway’s reflection of his early years in Paris with his wife and young child, while trying to earn a living as a struggling writer. Although they had little money, Hemingway seems to recall those early years of struggle as happy years. And although your mom and dad are struggling a little now, as I told your mom during our 8-mile run along the tranquil, but pedestrian heavy Charles River later that day, I think they too will look back on these years with fond memories. 

Although Brookline is not Paris, it boasts a very livable, energetic and beautiful urban vibe. Every time I visit, I love it even more. Like Paris, people are willing to pay exorbitant prices for real estate to live there. With bustling Coolidge Corner as its epicenter, Brookline contains unique shopping, a variety of ethnically diverse cafes and restaurants, and is surrounded by beautiful neighborhoods that are a joy to stroll through. It is also located an easy walking distance from the Charles River, greenways, movie theaters and historic Fenway Park. And public transportation to other areas of Boston is cheap and convenient.

So, I always enjoy coming up to Boston to visit you. And although you can be fussy before going to bed, as Gizzy and I experienced yet again last night while your mom and dad were away, you are a very happy and content little fella. And an absolute joy to be around. You also happen to be very curious about chest drawers and anything that has a top or lid on it. Keeping you from opening drawers and the diaper pail as you crawled and stumbled around was a full-time job! No wonder your mom and dad are tired most of the time.  But, as they already know, being with you is worth it.

Like Hemingway and his wife and your mom and dad, your Grandparents struggled in our early years. First there was graduate school at UNC for me just after getting married. To save money during those years in Chapel Hill, Gizzy allowed me to lunch at a restaurant only once a week. On other days I had a brown bag lunch with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chips, and an apple. Sometimes I would bring my brown bag into restaurants just so I could eat with my friends. And later, while Gizzy attended graduate school at William and Mary, which was an hour commute, your dad was born. And that was really hard. But we did fine with help from family and friends, just as your mom and dad are doing fine with a little help from family and friends.

So, James, help your mom and dad enjoy your lives in Brookline. From where I sit, it seems pretty special, especially because of the joy you bring into all of our lives, but especially the lives of Davis and Bridget.

Fondly,

Papa J