Lucas came down from his room above the front porch that first morning with his hair sticking up and a smile that hadn’t learned to be embarrassed yet.
“Big day,” I said. “Did you pack the folder I laid out?”
“Yeah, Mom.”
“And your water bottle? The blue one, not the leaky one.”
“You feel picked.”
“Yeah, Mom.”
“And you know where your first class is? It’s on the opposite side of…”
“Mom. I’m fine.”