To preface this story, let me say that K's middle child - henceforth known as Boy - was born not long before I - as K so lovingly puts it - 'disappeared on him', way back when. So by the time we reconnected, this kid was around 13. And even last summer when Boy was working in the clinic - he just looked so freaking young. But this summer I noticed he’d filled out a little and lost some of his ganglyness. And now, suddenly, he looks just like his father. He even has the same haircut K had back when he was younger. And he's in the clinic’s standard khakis and polo shirt and sometimes I catch sight of him and he looks so much like K, that I imagine this is what using a time machine to go back to a different moment in your life feels like, because I get transported back twenty years like woah.

Anyway, Boy is super sweet, quiet, polite & professional. I have this theory that he is going through his teenage rebellion by being the compete opposite of his father; the loud, smart mouth who 'thinks he's funny but he's being really, really childish'. As far as teenage rebellions go, I think K is getting off easy. So, Boy was telling me the other day about how his family is going to Florida - (to pick up one of his sisters) - and they were going to let him stay home alone, but he doesn't like to stay home alone. I was all, "Uh, you're what, 17? And you want to go on vacation with your family? That's not normal." He said he gets weirded out when he goes for a whole day without speaking to anyone. I told him all the things I like to do when I get the house to myself - minus the part about how I like to walk around in my underwear because it felt inappropriate to spring that on the kid - (and yes, I am still upset that my sister's weekend trip turned into a day trip, but whatever, I've got the whole house to myself on Friday!). I was basically like, 'I'm not having dance parties or anything, but the freedom of it can still be liberating.'

Cue yesterday when K tells me that he and Boy #2 are headed out later in the week, but the rest of the family had already left - minus Boy. And I was like, "Really? He said he was going with you guys." And K goes, "Yeah. It was weird. He said he hates staying home alone and then he came home a few days ago and declared that he had changed his mind. Out of nowhere." And I went, "Oh, um...oops." Then I told him my theory about how Boy is rebelling against him by being a nice polite young man, you know, the opposite of K himself. And K was all, "Why is everyone picking on me today?!" And I was like, "Your life is so sad, dude." Then I mentioned how his one daughter is a total smart-mouth though and acts just like him, and he was all, "Yeah, I know, she is," but he was beaming like a total proud papa over it.

I found it all very cute.