I was sitting out on our deck, eating breakfast with my husband Steven and our son Alex, when I noticed a tiny bird sitting on the ground. A larger bird was swooping down towards it, chirping frantically then landing on a tree limb only to swoop back over to the baby over and over again.

“Oh, my gosh!” I said as I pointed to the bird on the ground. “I’ve never seen this before but I think we’re watching a fledgling leave the nest for the first time!”

Our birdhouse, which usually housed black-capped chickadees each year, had a family of house wrens this year.

I’d always loved watching the black capped-chickadees and at first was a little disappointed when the house wrens moved in. Their vocalizations and calls were much louder than the chickadees, almost demanding that we take notice of them.

Alex turned around in his seat. “Are you sure?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I can’t be positive but it looks that way to me.”

The Mama bird swooped down once more and the tiny bird tentatively started to flap its wings and awkwardly flew over to a lower branch of a tree.

“You go Mama!” I cried as the Mama bird followed the baby to the tree. A few more chirps and the baby was hopping up the tree branch by branch.

That’s when Alex spotted another baby sitting next to our lilac bush. “There’s another one!” He pointed over to the tiny bird.

Mama bird wasn’t far behind swooping around the new fledgling once again chirping her encouragement.

“She’s a busy little thing.” I said as I took a bite of my egg sandwich.

I looked over at the birdhouse and could see another house wren standing on the roof watching all the action. “Well, there’s the proud Papa.” I said as I pointed to the house.

“How can you be sure which one is the female and which is the male? They both have the same coloring.” Steven asked.

I shrugged my shoulders again. “I guess I’m just assuming.”

Steven looked over at Alex and tipped his head towards me. “Sounds like someone is being a bit sexist to me.”

Alex looked over at me and raised his eyebrows and started to laugh. “Yup.”

“Oh, come on!” I cried. “You two are being ridiculous!”

But they had a point. I really didn’t know which one was the male and which one was the female so I decided to cover my bases. “Great parenting from both of you!” I called.

“That’s better.” Steven said as he took a bite of his egg sandwich.

“So….” I cleared my throat. “Now that there’s a vacancy in the birdhouse do you think house wrens or black-capped chickadees will move in next?”

“I’m hoping for the black-capped chickadees.” Alex said. “They’re a lot quieter than these guys.” He pointed over to the house wren still standing on the roof of the birdhouse calling out to it’s young. “These guys make way too much noise. It’s like we’ve been living next to a party house for the last few weeks!”

“I have to agree with you there.” I sighed. “The black-capped chickadees are a lot quieter.”

Steven started to laugh. “You just like saying black-capped chickadees.”

I couldn’t help but smile and nod my head. “I have to admit their name is adorable!”

After work I had stopped at a convenience store to pick up a half gallon of milk. I was putting it in the refrigerator when my husband Steven came into the kitchen.

“Doesn’t it smell good in here?” He asked as he pointed to the crock pot on the counter.

“It really does!” I said as I closed the refrigerator door. “You made sauce?”

“I did!” Steven was smiling as he lifted the lid to a sauce pan sitting on the stove. “I also made some chicken soup for dinner tonight.”

“Oh, my gosh. That’s awesome!” I dropped my keys in the basket on the counter and went over to get a glass out of the cabinet. “Thanks!”

“I also watered all your geraniums out on the deck.”

I looked out the window as I moved dirty dishes out of the way of the faucet so I could fill my glass with water. “Oh, thanks. I was planning on doing that after dinner.”

Our son Alex came into the kitchen. “Hey, how was your day?” he asked me.

“It was pretty busy.” I leaned against the counter and took a sip of water.

“Well, Dad was pretty busy in here.” Alex went over to the stove, lifted the lid and inhaled.

“I can see that.” I smiled. “Oh, did anyone get the clothes out of the dryer? I did a load of laundry before work.”

Steven and Alex both shook their heads no.

I put the glass on the counter. “No big deal.” I said as I headed to the laundry room. “I’ll just spritz a little water on the clothes and set it on low to get the wrinkles out.”

“Oh, did I tell you I cleaned the crumbs out of the toaster?” Steven called after me.

I stopped and came back. “And I made the bed before I left for work.” I reminded him. “I also took the garbage can out to the street before I left this morning.”

“I know. I brought it back in after the garbage truck picked it up.”

Alex looked back and forth to Steven and I. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I think we’re in the middle of a ‘who-did-more-around-the-house’ point system.” I said.

Steven looked surprised. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, everything was fine up until you mentioned that you cleaned the crumbs out of the toaster.” I was standing in the doorway with my hands on my hips. “You do realize I do that all the time but I don’t actually mention it to get a thank you?”

Steven and Alex looked at one another both with confused looks on their faces.

“Okay. Let me try and explain this.” I came back into the kitchen and lifted the lid to the pan on the stove and pointed inside. “This is awesome. Thank you.” I walked over to the crock pot and lifted the lid and inhaled. “Again, awesome!” I walked over to the toaster and peeked inside. “Daily chore. No credit. It’s something we should all be doing after we use it.”

“But not everyone does.” Steven reminded me.

I walked over to the sink filled with dirty dishes. “After dinner I’ll be cleaning up this mess but you won’t be hearing me call out ‘I’m loading the dishwasher!’ or ‘I’m cleaning the sauce pan right now!’ or how about ‘I’m wiping down the counter-tops!’” I looked at both of them. “Daily chores.” I reminded them. “No one gets thank yous for that.”

Steven looked over at Alex and shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe we should start?”

Alex nodded and looked over at me. “Thanks for doing the dishes after dinner.” Then he looked over at Steven. “Thanks for cleaning the crumbs out of the toaster.” He smiled as he held up his pointer finger. “By the way, I have a load of clothes in the washer right now.”

“Really? Was it a load of towels?” I asked.

“No, it’s a load of my own clothes.”

I shook my head. “Nope. Sorry.” I shook my head some more. “If it only helps you it doesn’t fall into our thank you point system.”

Alex sighed. “Okay, I get it.”

My son Alex and I had just left the grocery store and after putting the bags in the trunk we both got into the car and instantly reached for the hand sanitizer that I kept in the center console.

As we were both rubbing our hands together I couldn’t help but laugh. “I wonder when a study is going to come out that says using this stuff is actually really bad for you?”

Alex looked confused. “How could it be bad for you?”

“Well, we all seemed to be able to live without it until Covid showed up.” I wiped the excess off my hands and onto the steering wheel. “Now that we’ve been told to practically bath in this stuff I can’t believe it isn’t going to be a matter of time before someone comes out with a study that says using it is actually bad for us.”

I started up the car and began backing out of the parking space.

“Why would you think that?” Alex asked as he wiped the excess off on his pants.

“Because I’m old and I’ve lived through stupid decisions before.”

“What kind of stupid decisions?”

We were headed back home but were stopped at a red light when I looked over at him. “Well, lets see.” I tapped my pointer finger on my chin. “When I was a kid I remember a friend of my parents was told by her doctor to start smoking.” I looked over at Alex and raised my eyebrows. “The doctor said it would help calm her nerves after she had her son.”

“Seriously?” Alex looked confused.

I nodded my head. “When I was smoking age we were told smoking was a great appetite suppressant.”

Alex laughed. “You’re kidding me?”

I shook my head as I saw the light had turned green and I started driving again. “Nope. I’m not.” I looked over at him and smiled. “I have to say it really was a great appetite suppressant. Turns out it’s really bad for you but…” I shrugged my shoulders. “Who knew, right?”

“Unbelievable.” Alex said with a sigh.

“Hey, we were also told that you couldn’t go swimming for 30 minutes after you ate!” I laughed.

“Why? What was going to happen?”

“Oh, you were going to sink like a stone and drown.” We were at another red light and I looked over at Alex. “That was always the longest 30 minutes ever when I was a kid!”

“Why would anyone do that?”

“Because experts,” I made some air quotes with my fingers. “Told us to!”

Alex shook his head and laughed.

“Hey, my favorite one was every bottle of shampoo had directions that told you to lather, rinse and repeat!”

“What?” Alex shook his head. “They did not!”

“Now, even as a little girl I thought that one was stupid.” I was turning into our driveway. I put the car in park and shut off the ignition before looking over at Alex again. “I mean why wasn’t it cleaning you hair the first time you lathered up? Right?” We both got out of the car and went to the trunk to get the groceries.

Alex laughed. “That’s because the advertisers wanted you to use twice as much shampoo than you actually needed! That way you’d have to buy their shampoo more often!”

“Exactly!” I cried as I closed the trunk and we both headed up the sidewalk to the front door. “But back then we believed everything we were told.”

“That’s scary.” Alex said.

“Still is.” I said as my husband Steven opened the front door for us.

He took the bags out of my hands and turned to go into the house. “Hey, did you remember the hand sanitizer?” He asked over his shoulder. “We were running low.”

“Oh, it’s in there.” I said as I turned to Alex and wiggled my eyebrows up and down.

“Stop it.” Alex whispered. “You’re creeping me out.”

“It’s only a matter of time.” I whispered back as I walked into the house.

As my son Alex and I were out for a walk, we were strolling along a sandy path when I pointed down to the lush green foliage growing along the edges.

“I see the poison ivy is nice and thick now.”

“Which ones?” Alex looked to where I was pointing.

“That’s ALL poison ivy.” I then pointed to the hairy vine climbing up a tree. “This entire tree is mostly poison ivy.”

Alex stopped and looked up. “What kind of tree is it?”

“I’m going to say a poison ivy tree right now.” I could see the vines had spread out to the branches with their distinct three leaf pattern. “Leaves of three, let it be.” I recited.

“Where did you hear that one?” Alex laughed.

“When I was growing up we had poison ivy in the yard. My poor Dad spent hours trying to tame it.” We began to walk again. “I can still see him with the pump can by his feet, giving it a few pumps, and then spraying a mist of his homemade weed killer.” I looked over at Alex. “I guess I just grew up knowing what the plant looked like and to stay away from it.”

I pointed to another hairy vine attached to the trunk of a tree. “Hairy rope, don’t be a dope.”

“Oh, come on!” Alex laughed again. “You’re making that up!”

“No I’m not!” I shook my head as a memory crossed my mind. “Did I ever tell you the time your Dad was moving a dead tree trunk that had fallen across our driveway?”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“It was after a big storm and there were branches all over the yard.” I cringed as I thought about what happened next. “I was upstairs taking care of your brother when I looked out the window and saw your Dad wrapping his arms around the dead tree that had fallen across the driveway.” I looked over at Alex. “I knew that tree and knew it was covered in poison ivy vines. So I raced to the window, opened it and began screaming ‘Hairy rope, don’t be a dope! Hairy rope, don’t be a dope!’

Alex started to laugh. “Why wouldn’t you just yell poison ivy?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no clue. But your Dad spent the next two weeks soaking in oatmeal baths!”

“Really?” Alex pointed to another hairy rope going up a tree. “Sure is a lot of poison ivy around here.”

“There sure is.”

“So, Dad is really that allergic to poison ivy?”

“Oh, you have no idea!” I shook my head thinking about it. “I never saw anything like it! I swear I thought I was going to have to take him to the emergency room!”

Alex shook his head and cringed. “I think I had poison ivy when I was a kid but I don’t remember it being so bad.” Alex said.

“Me either.” I sighed. “But you know Dad.” I looked over at Alex and raised my eyebrows. “You know his motto.”

Alex laughed. “Go big or go home!”

I nodded my head. “That’s pretty much his motto in everything he does!”

I had a trash bag in each hand and was headed to our outdoor garbage pail when two very large carpenter bees came flying right towards my head.

“Oh, for the love of…” I ducked and dropped the two bags on the ground.

But the bees weren’t done yet. They swooped around my head, one actually pinging off my forehead. “Hey!” I rubbed the spot as I stepped back. “Steven!” I called to my husband.

He was working in his garden on the other side of the yard. “A carpenter bee just pinged off my head!” I cried.

Steven put down the hose he’d been using to water the tomato plants and walked over to where I was standing. I was still rubbing my forehead.

“They must have drilled some holes in the fence.” He went over to inspect the wooden fence that surrounded where we kept the garbage pails.

“Well, that’s nice for them.” I pointed to the garbage bags laying on the ground by his feet. “Can you toss them in the pail for me please?”

Steven grabbed the two bags with one hand, opened the lid to the can and tossed them in all while the carpenter bees swooped around him.

“Can they sting?” I asked as I stayed a safe distance away.

“The females can but they don’t usually.” He began examining the fence. “Here you go! I found a couple of places where they’ve drilled their holes. They’ve probably already laid their eggs.”

“Okay, so how do we get rid of them?” I stepped back further and watched them circle the garbage pail.

“Well, I guess I could cover up the holes.” Steven looked over at fence.

“Perfect! The sooner the better!” I was headed back to the kitchen door when Steven called over to me.

“You know they’re great pollinators.”

I stopped and turned around, I’m sure he could see the look of surprise on my face. “Are you serious?”

I looked at him standing there with the two carpenter bees circling his head while he was looking at his garden.

He nodded his head. “I am.”

I looked over at his garden too. He’d been spending hours planting and tending it for months now.

I took a deep breath. “So you’re not worried about the damage they’re doing to the fence?”

“It’s a couple of little holes right now.”

I started to laugh. “You weren’t saying that last year when they were going after our deck!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t have a garden then.”

I shook my head as I laughed. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal.”

Steven looked skeptical. “What kind of deal?”

“You can keep your bees but you have to be the one to take out the garbage. I’m not going near those pails with those two idiots buzzing around.”

“Deal!” Steven said.

I turned around and headed back to the kitchen door. “Best deal ever.” I whispered under my breath.

“Did you say something?” Steven called.

“I said love you!” I called over my shoulder.

“Love you, too!”

It was a beautiful day and Alex and I had decided to take a quick trip to the shore. We got in the car and were parked and walking on the boardwalk in less than 30 minutes.

“I love how close we are to the beach.” I said as we strolled along the boards headed towards the inlet.

“We picked the perfect day to come.” Alex said as we reached the end of the boardwalk and found an empty bench to sit on.

“I love this time of year before the boardwalk is packed.” I leaned back on the bench and put my feet up on the metal rail. We watched the fishing boats fighting the tide change in the inlet as they left the marinas and headed out to the open ocean.

We weren’t there very long when I looked over at Alex. “Are you getting hungry?”

Alex nodded his head. “I could eat.”

We walked towards the restaurants along the boardwalk and passed a sign next to the aquarium.

“Oh, this looks good!” I said as I pointed to the sign that said ‘Shark feeding: 1 PM’ I looked at my watch and then over to Alex. “That gives us about an hour to eat. Do you want to catch the feeding time?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Sure. If you want to.”

I smiled and clapped my hands together. “I really do.”

We went to one of our favorite outdoor restaurants and ordered slices of pizza. As we were sitting there enjoying our pizza, I couldn’t help but laugh as we watch the seagulls hop along the sand looking for food and pestering anyone who had anything remotely close to something edible. The sounds of the waves crashing against the shoreline somehow always calm me.

Alex looked at his watch. “We only have ten minutes before the sharks get fed.” he reminded me.

“Seriously?” I scooped up the empty plates and napkins. “That went by quick!”

We quickly walked to the aquarium and bought our tickets.

We went over to the shark tank where a dozen or more people were already waiting.

“I’ve never seen a shark feeding before.” I whispered to Alex. “I’m excited!”

Just then an employee turned on her microphone welcoming us to the aquarium. She cleared her throat and asked. “Does anyone see a hula-hoop floating at the top?”

Everyone looked up as I turned to Alex with a questioning look on my face. “What does a hula-hoop have to do with this?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders.

Finally another patron called out. “I see one!”

“Okay, that means the feeding has begun.”

I looked over at Alex again, still confused.

“That’s how our nurse sharks know where to go to get fed.” She explained.

“I’m sure that’s how it works in the ocean.” I whispered to Alex.

Alex started to laugh.

We watched as the sharks slowly circled the tank every once in a while a chunk of fish attached to a pole was lowered into the water to see if someone would take it.

“It’s like they’re feeding them off a fork!” I whispered again.

“One of our employees up top are taking notes on who’s eating how much.” The employee with the microphone explained.

“Well, this is about as exciting as being at a Weight Watchers meeting!” I said. Alex could hear the disappointment in my voice.

Now a nurse shark was headed to the hula-hoop to take a nibble off that pole.

“Well, what were you expecting?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe a chum bucket dumped from the top?”

Alex started to laugh. “The tank is the size of a swimming pool.”

“Still, it would have been more interesting this.” I sighed as I got up to look at the other displays.

I grabbed my car keys off the counter-top and tore the shopping list off the pad. “I’m going grocery shopping!” I called out. “Last chance if you need something!”

“Wait!” Alex called and came out of his room.

“What did you want to add?” I went over to the drawer to get a pen.

“Let me think about this for a minute.” Alex went over to the pantry and began looking through it.

“Oh, come on!” I cried. “Now you want to check what’s missing? The list has been sitting here for a week!” I tossed the pen back in the drawer.

“I’ll be quick.” He opened the refrigerator.

“Oh my gosh.” I sighed as I leaned against the counter. “You’re reminding me of my Mother!”

Alex looked over at me, his eyebrows furrowed. “How?”

“None of us could get out of the house without my Mom, who was always on the phone, holding up a wait-a-minute finger.” I shook my head with the memory. “You had to stand there while she finished her call, then when she hung up she asked where you were going. Once you told her she’d always say, ‘Be careful it’s slippery out.’” I started to laugh. “Didn’t matter if it was a dry sunny day in the middle of the summer it was always, ‘Be careful it’s slippery out.’”

“Well, she was worried about you.” Alex closed the refrigerator and went to the freezer.

“The catch phrase didn’t bother me.” I cleared my throat until Alex looked over at me. When he did I didn’t have a happy look on my face. “It was the wait-a-minute finger and having to stand there waiting until she was finished with her call that drove me crazy!”

Alex slowly closed the freezer door. “Okay, so I’m going to say I can’t think of anything right now.”

“Awesome.” I tossed the keys up in the air and caught them with one hand. “Then I’m headed to the grocery store. I’ll be back in about an hour.” I opened the front door then looked back at him. “If you remember anything else you want just text me.” I was on the front porch and Alex was standing in the doorway.

“Okay. I’ll lock the door for you.” He was watching me as I walked to the car.

“You can try to text me but remember I don’t always check my phone at the store so you have a fifty-fifty shot.” I clicked the key fob to unlock the car. Looking back at the house I could see that he was still standing in the doorway.

“Did you remember something you wanted me to put on the list?” I called.

“No, I just wanted to tell you to be careful it’s slippery out!”

I couldn’t help but laugh as he waved and closed the door.

I was sitting on the couch reading a book when my son Alex came into the room holding a package of chicken breasts. “Hey, do you think you can show me how to cook these?”

I flipped my book upside down on the coffee table so I could save it to the page I was reading. “Sure.” I got up from the couch and took the package of chicken from him. “These are pretty thick chicken breasts.” I headed for the kitchen with Alex following me. “Do you want to bake them whole or butterfly them and saute’ them in a little olive oil?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. What do you usually do?”

I placed the package on the counter and reached for a cutting board. “I usually do a butterfly cut, pound them a little thinner and saute’ them.”

“Okay that sounds good to me.” Alex stood next to me as I cut the chicken breasts and left them on the cutting board.

“Can you grab me the plastic wrap from the drawer and the meat mallet from over there?” I pointed to the drawer before I turned the faucet on with my forearm so I could wash the raw chicken off my hands.

“Sure.” Alex got the items and placed them on the counter.

I placed the chicken breast between the plastic wrap and began pounding them flatter with the mallet. “Can you go grab me the olive oil?” I brought the cutting board, with the chicken still on it, over to the counter next to the stove.

Opening the drawer I pulled out a skillet and place it on the burner.

Alex handed me the oil and I swirled a thin layer on the bottom of the pan before turning on the burner.

I placed the chicken into the pan and turned around to ask Alex to get out some tongs when I realized he wasn’t in the kitchen anymore.

I turned the stove off and went down the hall to his bedroom. Peeping my head around the corner of the doorway I could see him sitting on his couch scrolling through his phone.

“Excuse me!” I stood in his doorway with my hands on my hips. “Didn’t you just ask me to show you how to cook chicken?”

Alex looked up, a confused look on his face. “Did I?”

“Yes.” I was nodding my head. “You most certainly did.”

“Whoops.” Alex got up and tucked his phone in his front pocket of his jeans. “Sorry about that.”

As we both headed back to the kitchen I looked over at him. “When you asked me to ‘show’ you how to cook chicken, you really meant would I cook some chicken for you didn’t you!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders and started to laugh. “I didn’t do it on purpose!” He placed one hand on his heart with the other hand up in the air. “Seriously! I swear!”

I shook my head and started to laugh. “So, what just happened?”

“I’m going to say old habits die hard.”

I turned the burner back on, reached into the drawer and grabbed the tongs and handed them to Alex. “It’s all you now!” I stepped away from the stove and leaned against the counter.

Alex clicked the tongs together and looked at the chicken sizzling in the pan. “Alright. I’ve got this.”

My husband Steven and I were driving down the road when I couldn’t help but smile as I pointed up into the trees. “The wisteria’s in bloom!” I cried.

Steven looked up at where I was pointing. “I wonder how long it will take it to kill all those trees?”

“What?” I looked over at him confused. “I think it looks beautiful.” I looked back at the grape-like clusters of lavender petals draped over several trees.

“Sure it looks beautiful now but those vines will strangle all those trees in a few years.”

“Oh, come on!” I cracked open my window hoping I could smell a hint of their sweet fragrance. “They remind me of a sweeter smelling lilac.” I looked back over at Steven. “It’s one of my favorite childhood memories, standing under the arbor that was out behind the kitchen. The wisteria was so thick that it could be raining out and you wouldn’t even get wet!”

Steven was nodding his head. “Well, your childhood memory turned into an incredible amount of work for me trying to keep those vines from getting out of control.”

“Hey, it was your idea to buy my childhood home.” I laughed as I put my window back up. “But you have to admit the wisteria was beautiful when it was in bloom!”

Steven nodded in agreement. “You could smell it as soon as you pulled into the driveway.”

“See, you miss having wisteria, too!”

“Oh, I never said that!” He laughed as he looked over at me. “I swear those vines could grow ten feet over night!” He shook his head and sighed. “I used to spend every day weaving them back into the arbor and pulling them off the nearest trees.”

“But it looked and smelled so beautiful.” I reminded him again.

“It’s not going to happen.” Steven said. We were stopped at a red light.

“What’s not going to happen?” I pretended to look confused.

“We’re not planting any wisteria on our property.”

“Oh, come on!” I cried. “Just a little one?” I held my two fingers an inch apart. “I promise I’ll be the one to keep this one trimmed!”

“I’ve got a better idea.” The light had turned green and we were moving again.

“What?”

“Why not just buy some wisteria perfume?” Steven looked over at me. “Or get a can of wisteria air freshener?”

I had to laugh. “There’s no such thing!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I bet Amazon has it.”

“We’ll see about that!” I took out my phone, went to the Amazon site and typed in ‘wisteria perfume’. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I cried. I turned the phone for Steven to see. “They really have it!” I retyped ‘wisteria air freshener. “They’ve got that too!”

“Told you.” Steven nodded his head.

I was looking back at my phone not able to keep the amazement out of my voice. “Who knew?”

Steven started to laugh. “Clearly I did!”

My son Alex and I were pulling into our favorite park when we drove by a pond with a beautiful weeping cherry tree, in full bloom, along its bank.

Across the pond was a woman sitting in front of an easel, painting the reflection of the weeping cherry that was bouncing off the surface of the pond.

“Oh, my gosh! I’ve always wanted to do that!” I cried as I tried to get a peek at how far she’d gotten with her painting.

“You want to come to a park, set up an easel and start to paint?” Alex looked at me. “With everyone watching you?”

I began to shake my head and started to laugh. “Absolutely not!” I cried. “That would never happen. I can’t have people looking at me like that!” I pulled into a parking space, turned off the car and looked over at Alex. “I did do a paint-and-sip once.” I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s down in my office. It’s a beach scene with the waves crashing along the shoreline.” I had to laugh. “If you look at it from across the room it doesn’t look terrible.”

“So why don’t you try painting again?” Alex asked as he opened the door and stepped out next to the car to do some stretches.

“Because I wasn’t very good at it.” I said as I climbed out of the car.

“You only did it once!” Alex looked at me over the roof of the car.

“Most of that painting was done by the people sitting next to me. I kept having to ask for help.” I shook my head sadly. “I clearly don’t have a gift.”

“You only did it one time!” Alex cried again.

“Exactly!” I walked around the car, clicking the lock button on the key fob “I clearly don’t have a gift for painting.”

We began walking to the path that led through the woods.

“What I’ve really always wanted to be able to do is sketch.” I held up my hands showing him the size of the sketchbook I’d want to have. “Something about this size that I could throw in my purse and take out when inspiration struck.”

“So why don’t you get yourself a sketchbook?” Alex went ahead of me on the narrow path.

“I already know I’m not very gifted in sketching either.” I moved a branch out of the way. “I can barely draw stick figures.” I sighed.

Alex stopped and turned around. “You do realize that everyone that paints and sketches has to practice to get good, right?”

“That’s not true.” I sighed again. “Some people are born gifted. It’s just comes naturally to them.”

“That’s like one in a million people!” Alex laughed. “Everyone else has to practice. Doing it over and over again until they get it right.” He turned around and began walking again.

“But I want to be that one in a million.” I said as I followed him. “I want to be gifted. Where it comes naturally and I don’t have to practice.” I sighed again.

“That’s not how life works!” I could see him shaking his head as he laughed again.

“Don’t I know it.” I caught up to him as the path widened enough for us to walk side by side. “But wouldn’t it be magical if life did work that way?”

Alex turned his head to look at me. “Well, you can always keep hoping.”

“Exactly.” I looked over at him and nodded my head. “I’m just going to wait and see what my gift is going to be.”