He was always smarter than I'll be.

"You are there," he said, when I answered the phone, his voice all light and energy. He wasn't calling with trouble. He wasn't calling to complain. He was calling just to talk, and we did.



I am a broken record; I own that. It's my blog; I can be. So this is just to say, at the end of this week, that this son of mine is a rare human being—full of stories of his own, graced with empathetic listening, witty as hell, understanding. Talking to him is jazz and lift. It's me unafraid and unguarded.



"Hey, Mom," he was saying at one point, following a story I had told. "Don't ever lose your confidence. Look at what you have. Look at what you've done. And remember: You've got a great family."



He was always smarter than I'll be.