Have some chowdah!

In case anyone's wondering why there've been no urgent Three Peas news items posted in the past week, let me just reassure you. I just got home a few hours ago. I've been in Boston for almost a week with David. He attended the annual American Academy of Pediatrics conference, while I perfected the role of sightseer. Fenway Park, the Old North Church, Paul Revere's home, Lexington and Concord, Harvard, the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, and the list goes on.

Oh, it was wonderful. I slept in almost every morning, walked so much that I think I'm three inches shorter than when we left, and ate clam chowder or lobster in some form every single day. We also watched the Red Sox with some of David's Princeton buddies, and we ate dinner with his old roommate and his wife. And David's friend Brian even gamely showed me around and took me up to Walden Pond, where I got to indulge my inner English major geek and recite from Thoreau's "Walden" while standing in front of the site where Thoreau's famous cottage once sat. Brian even took a picture. I'll have to post that later.

And yes, we left William here in Nashville with Aaron and Diane. We called them every day, and once or twice, they even managed to coax William to talk to us on the phone. Usually he was too busy having fun and reveling in having the undivided attention of his grandparents for days on end, with no pesky interruptions from boring old Mom and Dad.

So I was steeling myself to walk in the door tonight and hear him say "No! Go 'way!" We joked the entire time in Boston about how William was having so much fun with Dee Dee and Grandaddy that he might start to forget about us. And so I kind of figured we'd be met with, at best, a lukewarm reaction.

But what did he do? He and Diane opened the door, and a huge smile spread across his face and he began shouting, "Mommy, Daddy! HI! HI!"

And I ran to him and gathered him in my arms, and he gave me "big hugs," as he likes to call them. And he smiled and laughed and clung to me in joy. And I thought my own face was going to split in two from smiling so hard.

It's great to go out of town. It's great to take a vacation with just your lovely husband. But it's also great to come home to the smiley little guy who's part of both of you--and to gather him up in your arms and hug him until he squeals.