Coffee Time

With the kids both not living at home I found that I ached just to see their faces. I hear from them frequently on the phone but it just isn't the same.

It has always amazed me how different two kids can be.

In the beginning the older one would learn things himself without being taught really. He was interested in brief cases and suits and ties by the time he was a mere 4 years old. He didn't excel in school, only because he is also kind of lazy and was happy sailing through with mediocre marks. He never really caused me any grief. The only conflicts we had were because he always thought he was more mature that he really was, challenged authority because he thought he was on par with us. He is very serious and calculating. There is a genuine sensitivity there but sometimes he masks that with a cool aloofness.

Then there is the other one. Right from the beginning that kid's hands and actions were lightening fast. He was always into some kind of mischief. I never knew what would happen every day I woke up, but I knew something would. He lit Kleenex on fire to see how it would burn, he pulled the fire alarm at school, he lit fire crackers off IN HIS MOUTH!, and on and on. He would be suspended from school on a fairly regular basis. I would see BOARD OF EDUCATION on call display at work and just cringe! The school tried to tell me that he had ADHD. I had him tested many times. He's not. When we did homework in the evening it would always end in screaming fits and pencils and pens would go flying. He excelled in Karate. He ended up with a blue belt before he quit. He just happens to march to a very odd drummer. He has fun. He has an amazing heart that he wears proudly on his sleeve and he just wants to have fun.

We started to have coffee together every Sunday just to stay connected. At first it was just me and Matthew. Yesterday, Nicholas joined us. Matthew had on a pair of over sized track pants and some kind of rapper t-shirt. Nicholas was dressed in a suit and trench coat. Some things never change. Just the three of us. They regaled me with stories that made me cringe. They banter back and forth with each in awe of the differences between them but loving each other because of that I think. They will never ever know how much all of it that means to me and they will never ever know how much I love them both. Each of them annoy the hell out of me in very different ways but I wouldn't want it any other way...I lied...I would ...but they won't listen to me!