Schooled. Courtesy of my 19 year old son.

He schooled me.

In his main letter (email) to the family that arrived early today, TMFKATB said the following, 'I miss all of you but things are smooth here.' That certainly wasn't all he said, but there's a certain degree of comfort that we take as his parents when he can say things are smooth. We take that to mean all is well.

In his stream-of-consciousness writing style, he also slipped in this gem: 'I also bought new pedals for my bike and put them on. It's nice having two pedals rather than just one.' Ya' think? This janky bike, of course, was the replacement bike for the one he wrecked last week. A+ for the initiative to move up to two pedals!

There wasn't a lot more from his main letter. More striking was his response directly to me that he sent after he read the letter I sent him. The stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and I send him separate letters each week, but after twenty seven years together, we continue to think more and more as one. Read our separately written, yet nearly identical weekly letters to TMFKATB. It's eerie.

Anyway, in my letter, I was lamenting the August doldrums and how pretty dull my life was right now. He was having none of it. In beautifully written Spanish, the son schooled his old man. He asked me the following:

Is there anything you haven't been doing that you need to be? (Insert dagger) It could be running or who knows. Maybe you just need something new. I would just make sure you use your free time well. Most of us are just on our phones. (Now twist dagger repeatedly) I know when I was bored back home I would go on my phone...that may be the trick. Who knows. Maybe meeting new people at work. Trying something new or going to a new place might work. Hopefully you get over this fast. You got this.

So there it is. TMFKATB for the win! Schooling his dad. The thing is that he is, of course, right.

I hate when that happens. Now I need to go put his lesson into action.

Speaking of lessons, here's why you might not want to down a handful of wildly tart blackberries: