Face 2 Face #SOL24

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At 1:34 a.m. I flipped the light switch off and began tapping out this post on my phone so I’d not disturb my sleeping husband who moments ago I felt shift on his side of our bed.

I paused writing to raise the top of my side of the bed, a gesture that makes my single-finger tying easier.

I’m up late tonight/this morning because I spent five hours and forty-five minutes in face 2 face conversation with *my favorite student I never had in class* who came for a visit. He left at 12:45 a.m.

We’d planned to sit out by a fire and visit but pivoted to my *social distancing vouch* in the living room because it’s cold here in Idaho. Today’s/yesterday’s high was 55, and a fierce wind has bee’s blowing since mid-morning.

For much of the visit, Snug and Stanley remained close, but like Ken, they ticketed and headed to bed while Jake and I visited.

Our topics of conversation ran the gamut. We talked about

• student loan forgiveness
• Gaza
• the Tony Awards
• moving to a warmer climate
• Jake’s teachers
• New York
• Biden and Trump
• Vietnam’s transformation from war zone to tourist destination
• Carbs
• Writing and AI
• substitute teaching
• social media
• cell phones in schools

And this is only a partial list.

During our conversation about cell phones I told Jake about Jonathan Haidt’s new book The Anxious Generation.

I reminded Jake he and I met and developed a friendship through in-person conversations after school before chrome books and google classroom usurped student-teacher interactions.

We might still be conversing at 2:05 am had Jake not taken a potty break and had I not stood up during his absence to signal we’d reached the bewitching hour, aka geezer bedtime.

We said our goodbyes at 12:45 and vowed to hang out again soon.

As he left, Hake complemented our yard, which took a beating from a hail storm a few days ago, but nature is still serving up some lovely summer blooms, both the flowering and friendship kinds.