And so, on the final night of summer vacation 2008, what did Charlie say but…..
“No school.”
Yes, having made it clear since school ended back in August that he’d rather be in school, the night before the big First Day, Charlie got opening day jitters.
I waved his lunchbox, packed with paper-wrapped chicken (courtesy of PoPo), rice, watermelon, a bagel, and a Capri Sun. “No lunchbox.” “The schoolbus is coming tomorrow,” Jim said cheerily. “No schoolbus.”
“Ok, no schoolbus,” we said. “No schoolbus,” said Charlie and “no school” (just to remind us). “Yeah, no school,” I said with a shrug. “No school,” Charlie …read more

Hurricane Hanna meant rain and heavy, humid air on Saturday and I suggested a trip to the YMCA pool. There’s a long-running association between changes in barometric pressure and Charlie having “thunderstorm” moments of unhappiness, of seeming unsettled and with a kind of worried, frenetic energy and expression. Just getting in the water has long proven to be a good antidote to all that unsettledness in the sky and in a certain boy, and a little exercise workout does not hurt.
The pool was jam-packed when we arrived and four lanes, instead of the usual three, were marked off for lap …read more