A few months ago, our older son Seth, who lives in New York City, told us that he had a new friend.  Shortly after that, he told us her first name and the week after that, her last name. As an experienced mother, I knew that I could not ask for more, so I was pleased when Seth sent a picture of the two of them taken on a walk in the park.

You can imagine how excited I was when Seth called on the Friday of Father’s Day weekend and said that he and his friend were going to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and that they would visits us in Cambridge on Sunday before returning to New York, adding a mere five hours of driving to their weekend.

The four of us spent a delightful three hours together.  Seth’s new friend charmed Peter from the get-go and me within minutes.  They wanted to be carefully socially-distanced so there was no hugging, but  conversation was easy, as we had iced tea and snacks in the garden behind our apartment building.  They brought alfajores, a Brazilian sweet, for Peter and an orchid plant for me.

The three hours flew by.  There were no good-bye hugs, but we’ll make up for that next time.

I can’t wait.