The Congressman

Our Jack was born a people-person. For instance, the other day, Jack and I were walking Anna to her classroom at school. Anna ran ahead of us, eager to get to her classroom. Jack, however, hung back and insisted that we stop off at every classroom along to way to say hello. First, he stopped at the infant class, smushing his nose against the window and peering inside until he spotted the teachers in that classroom. Then he said, "Hi! Hi!" while waving enthusiastically. Then, he stopped at the next classroom and did the same thing. Up next was the classroom that he is in on days when he goes to school. He waved and blew kisses to his teachers and then proceeded to have a full conversation with his friends who were attending school that day, through the window. It took us an extra 10 minutes just to get to Anna's classroom, due to her brother's social ways.



At our YMCA, there's an active AOA (Active Older Adult, also affectionately called the "Silver Sneakers") group. Often, when Jack and I are at the Y in the mid-mornings, we visit with the AOA's as they drink coffee in the lobby, awaiting their exercise classes or field trips. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, Jack and I made a whole morning of watching the AOA's load up onto a county bus (I always saw those around town and assumed they were full of prisoners or something) to go on a field trip. We sat outside on the picnic table, while Jack had his snack and ogled the big, loud bus--especially exciting was when the lift came down to help a lady in a wheelchair get on-- and then waved and flirted with each AOA as they boarded the bus.

This morning, as we arrived at the Y, the lobby was full of familiar AOA faces. One gentleman said hello to Jack. Jack was apparently feeling a little (uncharacteristically) shy this morning, so he buried his face in my yoga-panted leg. I said, "Jack, can you say 'Good Morning'?" and he shook his head "no" while keeping it firmly planted on my thigh. After just a few seconds, he raised his head, took a deep breath, flashed his charming smile and walked toward the man with his arm outstretched and vigorously shook the man's hand. It was impossibly adorable. I'm pretty sure that it made that man's morning and that, in turn, made mine.