I wrote this piece in, I think, 2015, about our first son and I thought it would be appropriate to share for Good Friday. All of our kids, not just the lad in question, are incredibly giving people. And have birthed a baker's dozen more good little humans. Since that writing, he married the girlfriend featured and they have provided us with two wonderful grandkids. I wrote this for a site called Bubblws which seems a lifetime and planetary system away. Anyway, here goes.
I just called Number One Son (chronological, no favoritism). I had to nag him to confirm if he'll be flying with us to New Orleans to see his sister. He keeps saying he's 99.9 percent sure he can get time off. I said, "Son, 99.9 percent only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not with mothers booking flights."
But I digress. I also wanted to know when he would be arriving for Thanksgiving and if he would be bringing his girlfriend. And he broke the news. He's not coming. He's driving to New York to serve Thanksgiving dinner at a homeless shelter/substance abuse center in the South Bronx.
Naturally, we were pleased and proud. And showed it by yelling at him for not coming home (we're possessive to the point of mania with our kids). And by lecturing him on bed bugs, scabies, body lice and the avoidance of such. When backpacking in NorCal he ignored the advice of his helpful nudist female guide (yeah, there's a story there), didn't use the Technu wipes, got poison oak.
And seriously, the Bronx? He lives in Detroit smack dab on John R and East Edsel Ford! Could you not find a shelter there to assist at, so you'd have time to zip home to visit? No, you have to go haring off across the country, worry us sick, abandon us, we harangued. Dad pouted-- "Alb doesn't love us. He just wants adventure." To which Alb readily agreed he did. But he wants to give back, not just take this holiday (which of course we understood but were too sulky to admit).
The mission is St. Anthony's Shelter for Renewal (410 E.
156th).
Bronx readers, if you see a handsome green-eyed, redhead with a smile like the
morning sun, looking lost, that's him and he probably is (lost). Just direct
him to 156th and tell him his mama says be safe and she misses him. And if you
had time, could you just follow to make sure he makes it? He's cute but a
little air-headed. Thanks.
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