DINNER TABLE HEROICS

I eat dinner without the phone on the table and I think I am some kind of hero, some kind of do-gooder, some kind of excellent human, some kind of health nut, some kind of evolved person, some kind of role model parent. Nevermind the remaining 23.75 hours in the day. Nevermind that the phone is three feet away on the kitchen counter. Nevermind that when it dings, my heart stops and I must do everything in my power not to go to it, to see if it needs checking. To see if some story or news release will fix my life.

BOGGLE

I have begun to play Boggle online up to ten times a day. I am getting pretty good and now routinely beat the computer and earn over 300 points on the daily challenge as a matter of course. I play while the soup is warming, and I play while I eat the soup, spoon one hand, smartphone in the other. I play instead of working, cooking, cleaning. I play while my husband speaks to me. I am not looking at my husband, but sense his mouth moving, open and shut. His words or the Boggle words, I think.

THE OWL AND THE DUCKLING

I click on a news story about an owl who is raising a baby duck. There is an image of a round-faced screech owl smushed into a nest with an oblong-faced duckling. They are an unlikely pair. They look unhappy but resigned to their lot. They are going to try to make it work. I think of marriage. I think of parenting. I think of certain of my colleagues. I think of sheltering in, and of a nation.