Second Semester

So you've driven through the rain and fog and a premature dark (dusk all day, you had thought to yourself) and in the end, all you have is one final meal with your son at a nearly-empty restaurant—not the restaurant you wanted to take him to, but, it's Sunday, Martin Luther King Day weekend, and nearly everything else is closed.

And you look at his face and you know you won't be seeing it again any time real soon, or soon enough, and you think: Pay attention. Take it in. Between now and the...