Nick spends any free moment buried in his office upstairs on the laptop, chatting with friends who could be anywhere, about building who-knows-what. When he's forced from the chair, then he creates memes on his phone or tablet and shares those, most of which I don't understand. I get the penis jokes with pop cans, but generally speaking the humor eludes me. We try to coax him down for a little TV, but if it's not awful television like the fifth sequel to Tremors, it can't hold his attention. And his mother likes shows where people die, which he hides up the stairs peeking down when someone is about to die.
Under quarantine there aren't many places to go, which is OK with Nick. I dragged him out of the house on a Saturday morning for the donation drive at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Bring a toy donation and take laps around the track in your own vehicle. The idea got out of hand in a quarantine year, though, so many bored people showed up it was a mess... a three hour wait to get onto the track, two laps instead of five, it made for a long day. But it was worth it, and the crowds relegated the rules irrelevant, so we were passing on the track, no forms to sign, just to get through the crowds. Nick shot some cool video from inside our 300.
My favorite line of the month wasn't from Nick. I get an aggressive call from the Tailor that we've left clothes for pickup, so I ask Brandi what could be there. "I left some clothes there that Nick outgrew." "How long ago?" "I don't know, maybe he was 4 or 5." Perhaps she was calling with a storage bill for nine years.
I missed half the month traveling for work, from Houston to Orlando, and returning to a negative test for COVID so I could enjoy the holidays after an exposure in Houston. I made a long drive to take equipment to the Orlando Auto Show, since the kids couldn't cover the work, so it was generally a shortened holiday (no two week break, just a couple of days.) I didn't enjoy Florida, just worked and returned with crappy oranges. It was just good to return to a quiet Christmas at home. My reward was listening to Nick play the piano, which he only practices now when we leave the house, but his play is outstanding, and he's writing some music for a school project. He has talent, if he can hold the interest.
Jason
