A Call to Clap For

I had thoughts of heading out for ice cream this evening, and nearly had a foot out the door when the phone rang. It was a counselor from camp, calling to have us speak with Noah. It's been that kind of crazy week--what with my return to a very hectic, full-time job--that left my brain so drained that I completely forgot about the call. Noah sounded sooooo good. First thing he told me was that he went underwater. I asked him where and he told me "in the pool." I asked him how it felt and he said "cold." Noah told me that he went to the corral and saw a chicken that had laid some eggs. He brushed a horse in the corral and the horse's name is Buddy. Noah saw a waterfall and when I asked him where, he hold me "in the woodlands." When I asked him where he showers, he told me "in the bathhouse." When I asked how it was sleeping in a tent, he said "wonderful." The only thing that could equal this is having as good a call with Ariel when we speak to her in camp. But that's a ways off, so I'll have to anticipate optimistically. The week at work has been physically and psychically draining, and I don't know how or whether it will work out in time, but this call with Noah trumps all anxieties at work, drowns all fatigue, and brings me back to what always gets my heart singing and my spirit soaring: good news from, with, and/or about my kids. It just isn't more complicated than that for me. And I hope it never is.