Great Weekend; Magic Moments

Early Sunday evening, back home in quiet little Madison. Spent part of yesterday and today in Chicago with my three kids, Amanda, Natalie, and John, and John's girlfriend, Cheryl. Our time together was of great quality. We had only a few moments together but moments are what my life is made up of and what I remember. We talked about the Tank, the fantastic car we got for $600, put 150,000 miles on, and then traded in for $1,500 for a new Toyota. I reminisced about the moment when we were driving down Burlington Avenue in Logansport with Natalie, a newly licensed driver, at the wheel of the Tank and her parents, sister, and twin brother riding with her. It was deep dusk and all cars should have had their headlights on by then. Sure enough, one car we met was without lights. Natalie said, "Oh, here comes some asshole without his headlights on." After an interval of exactly one third of a second, the other four of us, in perfect unison, cried out, "TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS, ASSHOLE!" That is a moment I will always remember. I hope I will remember some moments from this weekend: Amanda deftly (and swiftly!) driving us in and out of the city; meeting Cheryl for the first time and hugging her as we left; John and I watching Pride and Prejudice together after the women fell asleep or otherwise lost interest, and then John really kicking ass and taking names in helping me work my New York Times Sunday crossword puzzles; Natalie cooking us fantastic Belgian waffles; Monty from the other end of the apartment bringing me a bag of Ricola cough drops in his mouth and sitting there bonding with me as I praised him; Natalie talking with Jerry on her cell phone on the darkened neighborhood street as we walked and as the CTA el passed by and above it a jet flew into O'Hare; a lady in the common across the street preaching a sermon with a megaphone while the kids were downtown; brunching at Cafe Lula and eating Mexican at nine o'clock that night. It was a good weekend, a great weekend. Thanks to family and HP.