When Joe was three or four years old, maybe five, I used to take him to school at Children's House every morning. Jude took JP to USN first, on her way to work downtown (this, of course, is before the pandemic and remote work for Jude). That left Joe and me with 45 minutes or so of time to kill, after breakfast but before I dropped him off at Children's House.
I treasured those previous minutes with Joe. I called it "Joe Time." Some days we watched Daniel Tiger on television. Often times, we went to Belmont U., where we performed trick shots with the Nerf football, one of us trying to catch passes from the other thrown from the second floor of the Curb Center Sometimes, we played touch football inside the Curb. Other times, we ate "second breakfast" at Bongo Java and watched Thomas the Train or NHL videos on my iPad. Sometimes, we arrived at Children's House early and I pushed Joe on the swings or played with him on the playground.
Those stolen moments were so special to me. I knew, too, that those moments were fleeting, which make them even more precious to me. I miss those days. So much of parenthood seems to be nostalgia for the way things used to be, when a child or children were younger and life was more innocent and less complicated.
With JP in Tasmania, it's been nice to have one-on-one time with Joe. Yesterday, after Joe went for an early morning two mile run, I drove him to basketball camp at TOA Courts in Cool Springs. We listened to Brian Windhorst on his NBA podcast, as we talked basketball all the way down. I picked Joe up at noon and we ate lunch together at my office in Franklin. At 2 p.m., I drove him to a hitting lesson at a new baseball facility on Main Street, deep in Franklin. We drove home after a quick stop at the office. At home, we ate dinner and watched the last half of "For Your Eyes Only" (James Bond).
This morning, Joe and I left the house about 6:35 p.m. and drove to Shelby Park. We ran four miles on the trails at Shelby Bottoms. I wanted to get his a long run in and, more importantly, I wanted to run with him at my favorite place to run in the world, Shelby Bottoms. We had a great, albeit hot, run and even saw a couple of deer on the trails. Afterwards, we had breakfast at Aaron's Goods on Gallatin Road.
For the past week, with JP in Tasmania, it's been Joe time all over again. It seems like JP has been gone forever. I miss him terribly. We all do, especially Joe. Still, hanging out with Joe, and focusing what little free time I have on him - has been refreshing. A preview, just maybe, of what my life will be like after next summer when JP leaves for college. Maybe, just maybe, it won't be as difficult as I fear it will be with JP out of the house.
Joe Time.
