I’d slept on the couch, so that I could sleep sitting up, and not bother my husband Steven with my constant blowing of my nose.

I watched as dawn broke and my alarm went off telling me it was time to get ready for work.

“Oh, man.” I sighed as I pushed the blanket off of me, swung my legs off the couch and reached for the glass of water on the coffee table.

Moments later my son Alex came out into the living room. He scanned the room taking in the tissue box and bottle of hand sanitizer that were on the coffee table.

“Did you sleep out here last night?” He asked.

I stood up to stretch. “Yeah. I didn’t want to bother your Dad. I think my allergies are kicking up.”

Alex looked suspicious. “Are you sure you’re not sick?” He took a step back as I passed him to go into the kitchen.

“I’m fine.” I said as I felt my chest tighten and tried to avoid the coughing attack that was about to start.

“You don’t look fine.” He leaned against the doorway of the kitchen watching me put the kettle on for my tea.

I turned my head and coughed into the crock of my arm. “I’m totally fine.” I said as I got my tea cup out and set it next to the kettle. “Nothing a hot shower won’t fix.”

My husband Steven came into the kitchen. “You never came to bed?” He asked as he went to make his coffee.

“I must have fallen asleep on the couch.” I lied knowing full well that I’d planned on sleeping there.

“She’s sick.” Alex said from the doorway not wanting to come into the kitchen.

“I’m fine!” I said but the crack in my voice said differently.

“Are you staying home from school?” Steven asked as he passed me to get water to put in the coffee maker.

“Why would I stay home?”

“Because you’re sick!” Steven and Alex said in unison.

“Okay, maybe I have a little cold.” I admitted. “But I work in a school. The school year just started. Everyone’s sick.”

“Everyone?” Alex asked stepping back even further. “What’s going around now?”

I shook my head. Neither of them had any idea what bugs went around in my school. I sure wasn’t about to start telling them now because I’m pretty sure they’d have me sleeping in the garage if I did.

“Fall allergies are going around.” I said as my kettle clicked off and I began to pour the water into my cup.

Steven leaned against the counter and looked over at me. “You look and sound like more than just allergies.”

I could feel my nose start to run and I hurried over to the tissue box.

Alex and Steven stood there shaking their heads as I blew my nose.

“Why don’t you just call in sick?” Alex asked.

“Because…” I really couldn’t think of a reason.

I could feel my eyes start to water. “Okay, fine.” I sighed as I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve. “You win. I’ll call in.”

“I think everyone you work with is going to feel like the true winners.” Steven walked by me holding his coffee cup. “With you not making them all sick.”

I looked over at Alex who was still standing several feet away from me.

“I’ll go get the Lysol and start spraying everything I’ve touched.” I left the kitchen and headed for the linen closet in the hallway.

“I appreciate that!” Alex called to me from the kitchen. “How about you start in here so I can make my coffee?”

My son Alex and I were standing side by side at the stove cooking dinner. I was stirring a pot of sauce while Alex was waiting for the pasta water to come to a boil. When it finally did he started to pour the pasta in from it’s box when one of ziti noodles missed the pot and fell next to the flame on the stove.

“It’s okay, I’ll get it.” Alex said as he went to the drawer and got out a pair of tongs. Reaching under the pot he used the tongs to get the piece of ziti before it caught on fire. As he pulled it out I put my hand out for him to drop it in the palm of my hand.

“Are you kidding?” He said as he went over to the trash can. “It’s too hot for you to handle.”

I shook my head. “It wouldn’t be too hot for me.” I took a spoon out of the drawer and took a quick taste of the sauce before reaching in the spice cabinet for the oregano. “You know I have asbestos hands.” I gave a few quick shakes of oregano before stirring it again.

Alex opened the tongs and dropped the ziti in the trash before tossing the tongs in the sink.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.” He came back to the stove to give his pasta a stir. “I don’t know how many times I’ve used the sink right after you’ve used the hot water.” He began shaking his head. “It’s ridiculous how hot you have it!”

“Hey, if you’re washing pots and pans and you want to get them really clean you have to use hot water.” I reasoned.

He went to the drawer to get the colander out. “Have your hands always been able to take that kind of heat?”

I thought about it for a minute. “I don’t think so.” I went to the refrigerator to get everything I needed to make a salad. Putting it all on the counter I got out the cutting board. “I think I’ve built up a tolerance over time.” I pulled out a knife and began cutting up the vegetables. “I guess you could call it one of my super powers!” I laughed.

Alex turned off the stove and took his pasta over to the sink with the colander. “That’s a super power?”

“One of many.” I assured him as I looked over at him. “What do you consider one of your super powers?”

“I’m not sure I’d call it a super power.” He said as he left the pasta to drain and went back to the stove to give the sauce a stir.

“Oh, come on now.” I said as I placed the salad in a bowl. “Don’t be modest.”

“Well, I guess the common sense of knowing when I shouldn’t be putting my hands in something that’s too hot for most other humans could be it.”

I looked over at him and gave him the stink eye. “So, you’re telling me you think I should be using warm water to wash the pots and pans from now on?”

“Absolutely not!” He came over to me and patted me on my shoulder. “I totally appreciate your asbestos hands!”

“So what exactly are you trying to say?” I went to the stove to turn the burners off.

“Is dinner ready?” He asked.

“Yup.” I said as I poured the pasta in with the sauce.

“Okay. I’ll go tell Dad dinner’s ready.” He headed out of the kitchen.

“You’re pretty gifted at changing the subject!” I called after him.

“It’s my super power!” He called back.

It was late in the evening and I was sitting on the couch watching a rerun on television when a commercial came on.

“You know what I just remembered we could use?” I said to myself as I picked up my phone that was laying next to me. I opened my Amazon account and began typing in the search bar.

I typed in “bath towels” and hit the search icon. Within seconds I had dozens of choices popping up on my screen. I began scrolling through and finally found the ones I liked. I had the choice of putting them in the cart or hitting the buy now button. I hit the buy now.

Feeling like I’d accomplished a major shopping trip without leaving the couch I decided to continue.

“I could use some new fall decorations for the porch.” I said to myself as I typed away. There were so many choices that popped up it was overwhelming.

By now the commercial had finished and my program was back on. I glanced up at the television and back to my phone.

“It’s a rerun.” I said as I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve got more shopping to do.”

After purchasing several other items I’d been needing I put my phone down and was reaching for the remote when my husband Steven came into the room holding up his phone.

“Are you kidding me!” He cried. “Do we really need a half dozen glass food storage containers?”

“Absolutely! I’m trying to get away from the plastic containers because they can release chemicals into the food.” I grabbed the remote and muted the television. “How do you know I just ordered those?” I was confused. “What are you? A mind reader?”

“You know you’re on my Amazon Prime account, right?”

“Well, actually it’s our account.” I corrected him.

“Sure.” He began shaking his head. “But the account is in my name.”

“Okay…and?”

“Every time you order something I get an e-mail from Amazon thanking me for the purchase!”

“Oh…” I gave him a scared smile. “I didn’t know that.” Then I thought about it and was confused again. “But I order stuff all the time and you’ve never said anything.”

“You order one or two things at a time.” He held the phone up again. “I’ve got over a dozen e-mails tonight of things you purchased!”

“It’s all stuff we’ve been needing.” I reasoned. “I just kept forgetting to order it.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But everything popped into my head tonight so I took care of it.”

Steven sighed again.

“Hey, I can’t help it if Amazon’s been snitching on me!” I looked over at Steven and raised my eyebrows. “If I knew they were e-mailing you every time I bought something I would have gotten my own account!”

Steven shook his head again. “We don’t need to pay for two prime accounts.”

“Okay, so how are we going to fix this?”

“I guess if you say we needed everything I’m okay with it.” He put his phone back in his pocket.

“That sounds fair.” I picked up the remote again but before I unmuted the television I looked back at him and smiled. “Just a quick warning…Christmas shopping’s right around the corner!”

I was headed to our basement, to toss a load of towels in the washing machine when I noticed a small light green grasshopper had landed on one of the panes of glass on our back door. It’s little legs were glued to the glass as it looked out towards our back yard.

“Well, aren’t you the cutest little guy.” I said as I got closer. That’s when I noticed the top of its thorax was pulsing. “Hey Alex!” I called to my son. “You’re not going to believe this but I think I’m looking at a grasshopper’s heart beating!”

“What?” Alex sounded confused as he came over to where I was standing. “What are you talking about?”

“Look!” I pointed to the grasshoppers belly. We both watched as the pulse started at the top of his thorax and made it’s way down to the bottom.

“It’s the entire length of his body.” Alex said. “It can’t be his heartbeat.”

I dropped the load of towels on the floor and reached in my back pocket to get my phone. “I think you might be right. But what could it be doing?” I went to my Google app and began typing.

I stopped typing for a second and looked up to see that the grasshopper had noticed us. He’d turned his head to look at us as one of his antenna brushed against the glass. “Don’t move little guy, we’re in the middle of a science lesson here!”

I kept typing until finally I got my answer. “That’s his air sacs that are moving!” I cried as I looked over at Alex. “We’re watching him breath!” I shook my head in disbelief. “Can you believe it?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “That seems reasonable.” He got up closer to the glass. “It is pretty interesting, though.”

The grasshopper turned his head back to face the yard.

I put the phone back in my back pocket and scooped up the load of towels I’d dropped on the floor. “I never realized how intricate their little bodies were.” I took one last look at the grasshopper. “Enjoy the rest of your summer!” I whispered to him before I headed down the stairs to start the laundry.

“Now that you see how intricate an insect is, you can understand why I never kill a spider when it’s in the house.” Alex called down to me.

I shuttered and stopped on the steps. Turning around I looked up at him. “Spiders are a completely different story.” I corrected him.

Alex laughed. “Why?” He pointed to the grasshopper. “Spiders bodies are just as intricate as grasshoppers.”

“But grasshoppers are cute.” I shuttered again. “Spiders are just icky!”

Alex laughed harder. “Is that the actual scientific term?”

“Yes.” I said as I continued down the stairs. “Anything that has the name spider attached to it is icky.”

“What else has a spider name attached to it?” Alex asked as he followed me down the stairs.

I stopped at the laundry room and tossed the towels on the floor before turning around. “Jiminy Cricket is adorable, right?”

Alex looked confused. “Jiminy Cricket is a cartoon.”

I held up my hand. “Just hear me out.” I reached in my back pocket for my phone and began typing. When the photo I wanted came up I turned it around for him to see. “But spider crickets are more than icky. They’re downright creepy.”

Alex eyebrows went up. “That is pretty creepy looking.” He agreed.

I slipped the phone back in my pocket, nodding my head for emphasis. “So that’s the difference between all other insects and anything to do with spiders.”

Alex shook his head as he stood in the doorway while I loaded the washing machine. “Spiders still deserve to live.”

“I didn’t say they didn’t.” I reached for the laundry soap on the shelf above the washing machine. “I’m just saying when a spider needs to be rescued…” I looked over at him and smiled. “I’m calling you.”

“Okay, everyone! Listen up!” I was in the kitchen facing away from my son Alex and husband Steven. “I’m headed back to school tomorrow so there’s going to be some rules that are going to be put back into place.” I was cleaning out my work bag. “I wished I’d done this when school ended in June.” I grumbled to myself as I threw some papers into the trash that I no longer needed and turned around.

Alex and Steven were looking at one another. “Which rules are you talking about?” Alex asked.

“Well, first of all if you hear me in the kitchen in the morning I’m not making everyone’s breakfast. That ship has sailed.” Now that I’d taken everything out of my bag I turned it upside down to shake it over the garbage pail. “What you’ll be hearing is me making my tea and maybe a piece of toast.” I looked over at them. “You guys are going to have to make your own breakfast.”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I usually make my own breakfast before you get up anyway. The breakfast you make us is actually my second breakfast.”

Steven shook his head. “I don’t eat breakfast.” He smiled at me. “Except when you make it for us, of course.”

“Okay, so that’s not going to be a problem.” I put my bag on the counter-top. “Next one. No one uses the washer and dryer on the weekend. That’s when I catch up with all the laundry and I can’t have you two messing that up.”

Alex looked over at Steven. “That’s not a problem for me.”

Steven shook his head again. “No problem.”

I nodded my head. “Okay, this is going well.” I took a pad out of the drawer along with a pen. “Grocery shopping is only happening on the weekends again. No more running to the store because we forgot to put something on the list.”

Steven looked confused. “If it’s that important I’ll just run to the store myself.”

“Good plan!” I looked over at Alex.

Alex pointed his thumb towards Steven. “What he said.”

“I’m liking the team spirit here!” I leaned back against the counter. “I finish my cup of tea and I’m ready to get in the shower every morning at exactly seven A.M.” I looked over at Steven who held up his hands.

“I know. We’ve been doing this for years. I don’t understand why you’re telling us this?” He asked.

“Because we’ve all become lax these past few months and I don’t want to start the school year off on the wrong foot.” I could feel the panic welling up inside me.

“We’ve got you covered.” Steven came over and gave me a hug. “You don’t need to stress.”

“Yeah.” Alex said. “You’re getting yourself all worked up for no reason.”

I took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right. The first few weeks of school can be so stressful. I guess I’m just over-reacting.”

“It’s going to be fine.” Alex patted me on the shoulder.

“You guys are right.” I took another deep breath. “I’m stressing myself out for no reason.” I grabbed my work bag off the counter and looked at both of them. “You guys are great.”

Steven smiled again. “So what’s for dinner?” He asked.

“I’ve been so busy getting myself ready for tomorrow I didn’t have time to cook anything.” I headed for our bedroom to pick out my outfit for the next day. “We’re going to order out.” I called over my shoulder.

“Pretty sure we’ll be hearing that one a lot for the next ten months.” I heard Steven say to Alex.

“What?” I asked, pretending I hadn’t heard him.

“Nothing!” He called back. “Just getting the take-out menus from the drawer.”

My son Alex and I were at a farmer’s market picking up fresh fruits and vegetables for our Labor Day barbecue.

I looked in my cart. “Okay, we have a half a dozen ears of corn, some strawberries, blueberries, and…” I tried to remember what else we had said we were going to pick up.

“Didn’t you say you wanted some watermelon, too?” Alex said as he placed some apples in the cart.

“Oh, yeah! I can’t believe I forgot that.” I steered the cart over to a huge bin that was filled with watermelons. Several people were standing around it with watermelons cradled in one arm while they either knocked on the outside of the fruit or patted it with their hand trying to find the perfect one.

“It’s more crowded around this bin than the group standing around husking ears of corn!” I complained.

“Everyone’s just trying to get ready for their own barbecues.” Alex reasoned as he tried to get closer to the bin. “Which one looks good to you?” He asked over his shoulder.

“Well…” I waited for a spot to clear for me to step closer. “I was reading an article that said the best way to find the perfect watermelon is to look at the light and dark green lines and find the one with wider light green lines.” I picked up one of the melons. “Wow! This one is heavy!” I put it down and picked up another one about the same size. “Nope. The first one was heavier.” I put it down and picked up the first one again. “They also said that weight is important.”

I turned it over so that I could see the golden colored circle. “I’m also suppose to see a golden color, not white. That golden color means it hasn’t been moved from its spot on the ground and was able to fully ripen.”

“Aright.” He was looking at all the other shoppers knocking on their watermelons. “But aren’t you also suppose to do that?”

I leaned over to get closer to him. “The article said you really can’t tell that way.” I whispered.

Alex nodded. “Well, if you read an article and that’s what it told you to do then who am I to argue?” He started to laugh as he took the watermelon out of my hands and placed it in the cart.

“Hey!” I laughed as I started to push the cart to the check out line. “The article was written by an owner of a watermelon farm! I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about!”

“We’ll see.” Alex said as we reached the check out line and he placed our items on the conveyor belt.

Once we got home and put away all our groceries I took the watermelon over to the sink to give it a quick wash. “Okay.” I said as I placed it on the cutting board and wiped it dry with paper towels. “Let’s cut this baby open and see what we have!”

I sliced it in half and looked at the ruby red flesh. “It’s looking good!” I said as I cut away the rind and began cubing the piece into a bowl. I popped a small piece in my mouth. “Oh, my gosh! That’s so good!”

I looked over at Alex. “Do you want to try a piece?”

“Sure.” He got a fork out of the drawer and stabbed one of the pieces from the bowl. After a few chews he nodded his head. “It’s good.” He agreed.

“What do you mean it’s good?” I said as I got the plastic wrap from the drawer and cut off a piece to cover the bowl filled with watermelon. “That’s the best tasting watermelon I’ve ever had and it’s not even chilled yet!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve had good watermelons before.”

“Well, that was just luck.” I said as I put the bowl in the refrigerator. “But now I know how to pick one out without having to embarrass myself playing bongos, knocking on it with everyone else standing around the bin.”

“What do you mean, embarrass yourself?”

“I had no idea what I was suppose to be hearing when I was knocking on the outside of the melon.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’d just knock, put it in my cart, and hope for the best.”

Alex patted me on the shoulder and kissed the side of my head. “I’m glad you found the secret to a perfect watermelon.” He said as he headed for his room.

“This is going to be the best Labor Day barbecue ever!” I called after him.

“It always is.” He called back.

I was sitting at the dining room table writing some note cards when my son Alex walked in the room.

“What are you up to today?” He asked as he stopped next to me and gave me a kiss on the top of my head.

“Well, after I finish writing this thank you note I was thinking about making myself a cup of tea and sitting out on the back porch for a little bit.”

“Thank you note?” Alex called over his shoulder as he went into the kitchen. I could hear the water running at the sink. “When did you start writing thank you notes?”

“I used to write them all the time!” I had just finished signing my name. “Your Dad even had monogrammed embossed note cards made for me because I wrote so many of them!” I shrugged my shoulders. “But then email and text were invented and it was just easier to do that.” I sighed. “But the other day I got a note from my girlfriend Kathy and realized she’d never given up on the art of a hand written note.” I flipped through my address book. “It just struck me that the time and effort that goes into writing the note, addressing an envelope, putting a stamp on it, and placing it in the mailbox just means so much more than an email or text.” I found the address I was looking for and began writing it down. “That’s when I decided I needed to go back to writing personal thank you notes when someone does something nice for me.” I slipped the note into the envelope and licked the envelope closed. “Now I just need a stamp and I’m all set.”

I was getting up to go find a stamp when Alex came out of the kitchen holding a mug in each hand. He held one out to me. I could see the steam rising from it. “I made you a cup of tea.” He said as he placed it on the table.

“Really?” I couldn’t help but smile. “You made that for me?”

“Hey, you said when you were done writing your thank you note that you wanted to have a cup of tea out on the porch.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I was making myself coffee so I just thought why not make you your tea?”

“Oh, my gosh,” I put the note down on the table and picked up the tea. “That’s so sweet of you. Do you want to come sit with me out on the porch?”

“Sure.” He pointed to the envelope. “Don’t you want to get a stamp on that first?”

“I’ll do it after this.” I held up my tea as I headed for the back door.

I opened the door for him. “That was so nice of you to do.” I gushed as I followed him out the door.

“Are you going to be writing me a thank you note?” Alex laughed as he sat down in the Adirondack chair.

I sat in my rocking chair and started to laugh. “Wait.” I stopped laughing. “That’s really not such a bad idea.”

Alex held up his hand as he shook his head. “I wasn’t being serious. You don’t have to write me a thank you note.”

“I’m not saying an actual thank you note.” I sat back in my chair and took a sip of tea, “But maybe you, Dad, and I could keep a list of all the nice things we do for each other during the day, have it hanging on the refrigerator, and we’ll all feel more appreciated.”

Alex thought about it for a moment then looked over at me and smiled. “You’re thinking your list would be the longest aren’t you?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I really hadn’t given it that much thought.” I tried to stifle a laugh as I went to take another sip.