I was climbing up the attic stairs when my son Alex came out of his room. “What are you up to?”

I was half way up the ladder when I stopped and looked down at him. “Oh, good. I’m glad you’re here. I was going to grab a suitcase, can I hand it down to you?”

“Sure.” Alex waited at the bottom of the ladder as I continued up. My head just cleared the attic floor when I spotted the suitcases a few feet away. Grabbing one I pulled it over to the opening and lowered it down to him.

“Got it.” He placed it on the floor.

I slowly climbed down, folded the ladder in two and raised it back up until the hatch was back in place. “Well, that was the easy part.” I sighed.

“What are you talking about?” Alex moved out of the way as I picked up the suitcase and headed for my bedroom.

“I hate packing.” I answered as I tossed the suitcase on my bed.

“What’s so hard about packing?” He sat down on the ottoman we had at the end of the bed.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m always afraid I’m going to forget to pack something that’s important.”

Alex shook his head and laughed. “I’m pretty sure Aunt Lizzy will have anything you forget to pack already at her house.”

“I know.” I sighed again. “But I haven’t been on a plane since before Covid.” I went over to the closet and began picking through my clothes. “I’m not sure what I’ll want to wear while I’m there.” I grabbed a pair of black dress slacks and tossed them on the bed. “It’s been a while since I’ve packed a carry-on.” I picked out a few tops and tossed them next to the pants. I stood in the middle of the room, hands on my hips, staring at my jewelry box. “Do I go crazy and do matching jewelry for each outfit?”

Alex held up both hands and began laughing. “You’re asking the wrong person that question.”

“You know what?” I shook my head. “I’m switching gears. I’m going to pack the fun stuff first.”

I headed for the master bathroom and opened up a cabinet.

Alex had followed me and was standing in the doorway. “What fun stuff are you talking about?”

I pulled out a handful of packets and began shuffling through them. I held up the different packets. “I’ve got eye masks, sheet masks for your face and my absolute favorite…” I held up a larger package then the others. “Pedicure masks for your feet!” I headed back to the bedroom and tossed the packets into the suitcase. “We’ll do an evening of beauty while we sip on a glass of wine and maybe watch a movie!”

Alex nodded. “That sounds like fun.”

I looked over at him. “Really?” I was surprised. “Do you want to try one?” I started to head back to the bathroom.

“Nope.” He held up his hands. “That sounds like fun for you and Aunt Lizzy. Not me.” He began to walk towards the door. “I’ll leave you alone and let you finish your packing.”

“Thanks.” I watched him leave then went back to the suitcase and looked inside where the only things in it were the different masks. “Well, at least that’s a start.” I sighed as I headed back to the closet.

I had just gotten back from running errands when my son Alex met me at the door.

“Oh, no.” Alex said as he pointed at the Dunkin Donuts cup in my hand. “That’s never a good sign.”

“Come on.” I laughed. “It’s a small Chi tea. I felt like I deserved a treat today.” I dropped my pocketbook on the couch and began looking around the living room. “Did you happen to see a damselfly in here?”

Alex looked confused. “A damselfly?”

“Yeah, they look kind of like a dragonfly only smaller.” I was searching the room looking for any signs of it.

Alex pointed at my Chi tea again. “Did you see this damselfly before or after you drank that?”

I put the cup on the coffee table and started to laugh. “The tea might make me a little jittery but it certainly doesn’t make me hallucinate!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “If you say so.”

“No, really! I actually saw it fly past me before I went out for my errands.” I was still looking around the room. “But I was running late so I didn’t have time to catch it before I left.”

“Okay, well good luck with finding it.” Alex patted me on the shoulder as he headed back to his room.

I picked up my tea and took another sip. “So, if I were a damselfly where would I be hiding?” I asked myself as I scanned the room again. I put my cup down and moved the blanket from the back of the couch. “Here you are!” I cried as it flew toward the picture window.

“I found it!” I called to Alex.

“Really?” Alex came out of his room to see the damselfly bouncing into the front window.

“I told you it was in here.” I was kneeling on the couch reaching out to scoop the insect into my hands.

Once it was safely in my cupped hands I stood up and began walking to the kitchen door. “Can you open the back door for me?”

Alex went ahead and held the door open for me.

“Come on little fella.” I whispered into my closed hands. “I’m going to bring you to a safe place.”

“Are you sure you’re not squishing him?” Alex asked as I walked past him and out to the back porch.

“I sure hope not.” I placed my cupped hands on the railing and slowly began to open them. The damselfly began walking around on the palms of my hands. “Aren’t you beautiful.” I said with awe.

Alex looked closer. “They are kind of interesting looking.”

“Okay, little fella it’s time for you to be free!” I reached my hands out past the railing and gently tossed it back in the air.

It was at that moment that a gust of wind came up and blew the damsel fly away. “Whoops!” I looked over at Alex my eyebrows going up. “Did you see where it went?”

Alex shook his head. “Nope.” He began to laugh. “So much for bringing it to safety.”

“He’s fine.” I reassured myself. I turned my head to call over my shoulder. “By the way, you’re welcome little fella!”

My son Alex and I had just finished taking a walk in the park and were driving home.

“Do we have time to stop by the book store?” he asked. “I wanted to get a book on Yoga.”

“We don’t have to stop.” I looked over at him and smiled. “We already have a Yoga book at home.”

“Really?” Alex took his water bottle out of the center console and began unscrewing the top.

“I bought it years ago, but I’m pretty sure I know where it is.” We were just pulling into our neighborhood.

“That would be great.” He took a sip of water and screwed the top closed. “Is it for beginners?”

I guess my pause was a bit too long because Alex began to laugh. “You’ve no idea, do you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I ever looked at it after I bought it.” I looked over at him and raised my eyebrows. “But I had really good intentions at the time!”

He placed the water bottle back in the center console and patted me on the shoulder. “No worries. I’ll look it over and show you a few poses later.”

“That would be great!” I pulled into the driveway. “I’m pretty sure it’s on the bookshelf in my office.”

We were walking up the front walk as Alex took the keys from me and unlocked the front door.

“Let me go get it for you.” I said as I tossed my purse on the chair and headed to my office.

Alex followed me.

I began going through the bookshelf. “Hmm…” I ran my fingers down the spines of the books checking each title. “I was positive it was here.” I had gone through all the books on the shelf.

“Are you sure you bought one?” Alex asked as he followed me to another room where there was another bookshelf.

“I’m absolutely positive.” I said as I began going through the books on another shelf. “I still have the yoga mat I got with it.”

“Where’s that?” Alex asked as he looked over my shoulder double-checking the titles.

“It’s under one of the chairs in the living room.” I turned my head to look at him. “I use it every once in a while when I do exercises so I’m not just laying on the hardwood floors.”

After I’d gone through all the titles on the shelf I stood back up and stretched my stiff back. “I can’t imagine where else it could be.”

“See.” Alex pointed to what I was doing. “Yoga would help with your tight back.”

“That’s exactly why I bought the book in the first place.” I said. “I just forgot to follow through with it.”

“Well, thanks for looking.” Alex said as he headed to the front door. “I’m going to head out to the book store. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“Wait, I’ll come with you.” I said as I scooped my purse off the chair and followed him out the door.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?” he asked as we headed for his car.

“Well, now that you’ve inspired me I was thinking about finding a book on home Pilates without all the fancy equipment that goes with it.”

Alex turned around and started to laugh. “Do you think Pilates is going to be easier to do than Yoga?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I said I was going to look for a book. I didn’t say anything about buying it.”

I was scrolling through my phone while my son Alex and I were sitting on the back porch having our morning coffee for him and tea for me. Suddenly an article caught my eye and I stopped scrolling. “Well here’s something interesting.” I quickly scanned the article.

“About what?”

“Grounding.” I held my phone so he could see the screen. “They sometimes call it Earthing.”

Alex started to laugh. “Who’s they?”

I shrugged my shoulders as I turned the screen back to myself. “I don’t know. Some expert.”

“Expert in what?”

I looked over at him, eyebrows raised. “Grounding I guess.”

Alex shook his head and laughed again.

“It says that we’re not connected with the Earth anymore so we’re not getting the Earth’s electrons to heal our bodies.”

“Heal it from what?” Alex took a sip from his cup before setting his cup back on the table and leaning back in his chair.

I began listing the benefits. “Reduces inflammation, pain and stress. Along with improving blood flow and helping with sleep!” I looked over at Alex. “I like that last one.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex looked confused. “You can fall asleep in less than a minute.”

“There’s always room for improvement.” I countered. “I want to be able to fall asleep exactly when my head hits the pillow.”

Alex shook his head. “Grounding.” He gave a small chuckle. “It sounds made up to me.”

“I don’t know.” I put my phone down and picked up my cup of tea. “I know when we go to the beach I like sitting barefoot in the sand.” I took a sip and held the warm cup in my hands. “It always seems to calm me.”

“Everyone feels calm at the beach.” Alex said. “It’s not just the feeling of having your feet in the sand. It’s the sound of the waves hitting the shoreline. It’s taking a deep breath and smelling the ocean. It’s feeling the sun and breeze on your skin.” Alex looked over at me. “All of those things are why you feel calm at the beach.”

“Maybe.” I kicked off my flip-flops and stood up. “But there’s no reason why I can’t test it out here.” I walked down the steps of the deck and began walking barefoot through the grass in our back yard. “You know, when I was a kid I spent the entire summer walking around barefoot.” I called back to him. I stopped to wiggle my toes in the dewy dampness of the grass. “This feel great!” I began walking again. “I wonder why I stopped doing it?”

I was getting closer to the bird feeders and stopped again. “Oh, now I remember why I stopped walking barefoot in the grass.” I quickly turned around and headed back to the deck.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked as I walked up the stairs and across the deck leaving wet footprints along the way.

I pointed to the bird feeders. “The deer emptied them again last night.”

“How can you tell it was the deer?”

I looked over at Alex with a disgusted look on my face. “Because I almost stepped in a giant pile of deer poop they left in the grass while they were eating all the bird seed.”

Alex laughed. “And there ends your grounding.”

“That’s not true.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll keep grounding.” I sat down, looked over at him and smiled. “But only when I’m at the beach.”

I held the little sachet up to my nose and inhaled deeply. “Oh, my gosh!” I cried as I held the sachet out to my son Alex. “You have to smell this!”

Alex shook his head. “No thanks. I’m not a big fan of lavender.”

I rubbed the sachet between my hands to intensify the fragrance. “How can anybody not like lavender?”

Alex laughed. “I can’t believe you talked Dad into getting lavender plants for the garden.”

“That’s the crazy part.” I started to laugh. “I didn’t talk him into it.” I pointed my thumb against my chest. “He asked me to go get some!”

Alex shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like Dad at all.” He had a confused look on his face. “Dad hates lavender even more than me.”

“What can I say?” I shrugged my shoulders. “Sometimes I get lucky and things just work out for me.” I inhaled the sachet once more. “A little slice of Heaven.” I sighed.

My husband Steven came into the room.

“Here, you have to smell this!” I cried as I held out the sachet to him.

Steven held up his hands and took a step back. “I thought we agreed to keep the lavender outside.”

I held the sachet close to my chest. “I don’t remember making that agreement.”

“We got the lavender because the bees like it and it keeps them in the garden long enough to pollinate my vegetable plants.” He reminded me.

“See, we’re coexisting!” I held my lavender sachet out while pointing to the butcher block where cucumbers and beets were laying that Steven had recently picked. “Everyone’s happy!”

Steven and Alex looked at one another.

“Okay, fine.” I sighed again as I slipped the sachet in my back pocket. “What if I promise that the sachets I make only go where my things are?”

“So, not in our closet.” Steven started to list the places holding up a finger for each spot. “Not in our bathroom, the laundry room, living room, dining room, or kitchen?”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

“And not in our bed.” Steven added.

I held up my hand to stop him. “It’ll just be under my pillow.”

Steven began to shake his head.

“Lavender helps relax me and lets me get a good night sleep.” I argued.

“Lavender makes me sneeze and gives me a headache.” Steven countered.

My eyebrows went up. “Really?”

Steven nodded. “Really.”

I shook my head and laughed. “I’ve had a lavender sachet under my pillow for the last five years.”

Steven didn’t miss a beat as a concerned looked crossed his face. “So that’s why I’ve had a headache everyday for the last five years?”

Alex started to laugh as I swatted Steven’s arm. “You are so full of it!” I cried as I took the sachet out of my back pocket and headed for our bedroom. “I’m slipping this between my pillowcase and pillow right now!” I called over my shoulder.

“Just make sure none of it gets under my pillow!” Steven called back.

It was eight-thirty in the evening and I was sitting on the couch, the remote in my hand aimed at the television, when my son Alex popped his head around the corner.

“I’m putting a pizza in the oven. Do you want some?” He asked.

I looked over at him. “No. Not right now.” I sighed.

Alex looked confused. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

I put the remote on the coffee table and got up to follow him into the kitchen.

“I mean I’m not hungry right now.” I could see the pizza was already on the pan on top of the stove while he was waiting for the oven to preheat.

Alex picked up the bottle of olive oil and did a light drizzle over the pizza. He grabbed the container of Italian seasonings and shook some on top along with some red pepper flakes.

“Oh, man.” I sighed again. “You’re killing me here!”

“So, you do want some?” The oven beeped that it had reached the correct temperature and Alex slid the pizza in and closed the oven door. He went over to the cabinet to get some plates. “Dad and I are having some.” He grabbed a third plate. “I take it you want some, too?”

“No, I don’t need a second dinner.” I tried to reason with myself. “I’m not even hungry.” I watched as he started to put the third plate away. “But…” I relented. “I know once I start smelling it, as it heats up, I’m going to want a piece.”

Alex looked over at me and put the third plate on the counter. “So the answer is yes?”

“I just want you to know that me eating a piece of pizza, when I’m not even hungry is going to be all your fault!”

Alex started to laugh. “Your will power is that weak?”

I nodded my head. “It is when it comes to pizza.”

Alex set the timer on his watch. “I’m setting my alarm for twenty minutes.”

“Okay.” I pointed over my shoulder towards the living room. “I’ll be waiting on the couch being annoyed with myself for not being able to say no.”

Alex shook his head and was still laughing as he headed to his room. “Don’t blame me.” He called over his shoulder.

“Oh, I am!” I headed for the living room. “Why can’t your second dinner be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Or just heat up some leftovers from dinner.” I called to him. “I wouldn’t be interested in either of those.”

“I already had that dinner.” He called back. “And I’m going to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich later for my third dinner.”

“Third dinner.” I said under my breath as I flopped back down on the couch and reached for the remote. “How’s it even possible?”

My husband Steven was walking through the room when he saw the look on my face and stopped.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“No!” I said as I looked over at him. “You two are making me eat pizza at eight-thirty at night!”

“We’re making you?” Steven started to laugh.

“No one can smell pizza cooking and refuse a piece!” I looked over at him and shook my head. “Absolutely no one.”

Steven nodded his head. “I have to agree with you on that one.”

“Exactly!” I put my feet up on the coffee table and leaned back against the cushions. “Hey, Alex!” I called. “How much longer until the pizza is ready?”

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!”