"Maybe Some Other Time"

Joshua and I have been dutifully attending to business.

Josh will wrap up his first-year exams this week. I have been busy at work. In the evenings and on weekends, I have been doing some serious reading while Josh has been buried in his casebooks.

After this week, Josh will be free until late August.

Because Josh has nothing on his schedule for the month of June, we issued some invitations, thinking the month of June would be an ideal time for us to host visitors.

No one took us up on our offers.

Josh’s sister and brother wanted to know what there is to see and do in Boston, and we gave them a rundown of the city’s highlights, after which their response was “Maybe some other time.”

I asked my middle brother whether he wanted to come visit in June, and his response was “I think I’d rather wait and come visit this autumn”. At least in my brother’s case, he is adhering to past practice—his typical habit was to visit me once each semester while I was in law school, and he came to Boston to visit us only four months ago.

I asked a close friend from law school whether he wanted to visit—he went to Tufts as an undergrad and he knows the city of Boston very well—and his response was “Maybe some other time.”

I asked another friend from law school whether she wanted to visit and she, too, said “Maybe some other time. Wouldn’t it be better if you came to Los Angeles?”

Josh and I have come to the conclusion that we are exceedingly boring and that no one wants to risk suffering our bland hospitality.

Josh and I will travel to Oklahoma over Memorial Day Weekend to attend Josh’s brother’s high school graduation, but otherwise we have no plans until the beginning of July, when we will head for Minnesota for a six-week stay.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, everyone in my family is planning the first excursion of the year up to the lake.

I think the lake house will experience much heavier use this year than it has experienced in ten or even fifteen years, and this is because my brothers are back in the Twin Cities. This summer will be the first summer in the Twin Cities for my older brother since 1997 and the first summer in the Twin Cities for my middle brother since 2000. Now that they are back home—and now that my older brother has children—I think the tentative plan is to make use of the lake house every other weekend for the duration of the summer. It will be just like old times, since all of us spent most summer weekends at the lake when we were kids.

My parents are doing well, supremely happy that two of their sons and both of their grandchildren are now living nearby. Everyone goes to my parents’ house on weekends and one weeknight each week, so everyone gets to see a lot of each other.

My middle brother likes his new job very much, and he is happy to be back in Minnesota. He likes the people at work, he likes his apartment, he likes renewing friendships and acquaintances from school days, and he likes spending lots of time with his nephew and niece.

My older brother likes his new job, too, but he does not like the commute, even though his commute is not a long one by modern-day standards. However, he very much likes having his own house, as opposed to an apartment, and he now says he does not know how he managed to survive living in New York for so many years. He likes having a big house and a big yard, and now he says he feels “uncramped” for the first time in years.

My sister-in-law likes Minneapolis. She has always liked Minneapolis—in fact, she has always liked Minneapolis much more than New York. I think she will be very happy there (although I doubt she plans to spend much time outdoors in the winter and I shall be very, very surprised if she takes up ice-fishing).

My nephew and niece, of course, don’t care where they live, but they are very happy to have so many family members close at hand. For them, it means lots of attention from lots of people, and they thrive on that.

The dog, alas, has announced that he has become tired of Minnesota. He claims that he needs new vistas, new challenges, new opportunities, and he is making noises about relocating to Singapore, where he hopes to start an export-import business specializing in niche software. At present, he is in the process of getting his shots and paperwork in order in preparation for his move.

As for Josh and me, we look forward to spending at least part of the summer at home. It will give us an opportunity to enjoy some down time and some family time. Furthermore, it will give us some vital time with my niece, who probably has already forgotten who we are.

We don’t want THAT to go on too long.