Guytown and Joe the Runner

Jude was in Washington D.C. for work last week, which meant JP, Joe, and I spent three nights in "Guytown."  That's long been our name for, well, our lifestyle, when Jude is out of town.  

Fortunately, I had a light week at work with not much on my calendar.  It's a strange feeling when that happens because as a rule, my calendar is packed and I rarely have time to stop and take a breath.  I try to enjoy the lighter weeks when I have them, though, because I know they're few and far between.

One of the highlights of our visit to "Guytown" was watching John Wick with the boys.  That alone qualifies me as father-of-the-year.  I also grilled pork tenderloin on our new grill while JP made baked potatoes in the oven.  Great meal.

I've always described time I have with the boys alone as "figure it out time," which I love.  And we had a lot to figure out, too.  Transportation for JP to cross country practice every morning and Joe to the drop-off for Camp Widjiwagen.  Pickups for Joe in the afternoon.  Dinner.  Squeeze in a run.  An on and on.  Again, I loved it.

But that's not what this post is about.

It's about Joe and how much I enjoy spending time with him.  

As I've written in this space, the sweet spot for a boy might be the summer of his 11th year.  At least with Joe, there's still an innocence and a naïveté about him that's so beautiful.  He doesn't have or even want a cell phone, so there's not Snapchat or Instagram to worry about.  He's not interested in girls, at least not yet, which simplifies things a lot, for him and us.  

His effervescent smile lifts my heart every time I see it.  His laugh makes me laugh instinctively.  His penchant for thanking me, or Jude, for the smallest, routine thing - not in an Eddie Haskell way, mind you, but with a genuineness of heart - is touching.  

He loves to read, books and my old comic books.  Seeing him read and reread my old Marvel comic books - the one my mom bought for me almost 50 years ago at Hot Stop Market or Super Drive in Market, both on Moores lane - makes me very happy.  In a strange way, it makes me feel closer to her, too.  I can't help but think that somewhere she is smiling down on Joe as he reads comic books she bought for me so long ago.  I think that would make her happy.

He loves the WWE and the Marvel Universe.  When I asked him over the weekend which one he liked better, he told me it was a tie. 

Joe and I have been working our way through the Marvel Universe movies.  Some we watch with JP and Jude but some he and I watch together.  Most recently, we watched the first Thor movie, which really was quite good.  All of us enjoyed the first Captain America movie.  That one may have been our favorite so far.  Good time.

Saturday night, JP, Joe, and I watched WWE's Summer Slam.  JP rolled his eyes quite a bit but Joe was transfixed by every match.  Sunday morning, when he got up, Joe was still trying to process why Jimmy Uso betrayed Jey Uso in the main event, right at the moment when Jey was about to dethrone his cousin, the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns.  

On top of all of that, though, Joe as expressed a real interest in running with me this summer and lately.  

Saturday afternoon, he saw me stretching and asked, "Are you going for a run, Dad?"  "Yes," I replied.  "Can I come with you," he asked, smiling expectantly.  "Of course," I responded.

We planned on running two miles together but I took us on one of my oldest, established routes.  We ran through Belmont's campus, across 12th Avenue, and into the old neighborhood (including by our old house on Elliott Avenue).  I call it the 'Hood route.  

It quickly became apparent - to me, anyway - that we'd  be running three miles, rather than two.  Although it was hot and humid, he said he was up for it when I asked him if he wanted to run three miles as we made our way up 10th Avenue.  It was a tough, even grueling for him, but he gutted it out and we finished at the Twice Daily store on 12th Avenue, where I bought him a Gatorade.  

We walked home together, stopping to sit on the chairs next to Locust, around the corner from our house on Linden Avenue.  In many ways, that's the best part of running with one of the boys - the cool down walk afterwards, hanging out and talking about life.  That's the good stuff, you know?

As the summer draws to a close with JP and Joe starting school next week, I'm a bit melancholy.  Joe won't be 11 years old forever and the summer of his 11th year is nearly over.  Sooner than I want, the innocence that envelops his very being will began to fade, replaced by the realities of life as a teenager.  I want to hold on to these moments for as long as I can, though.