Perspective

Len, Eric's father, came back Thursday from a two-week trip to Europe. We had dinner with him on Friday, and at some point in the conversation, we started comparing NYC to Europe. NYC wasn't looking so good at that moment. A disgruntled tone was started to creep into the conversation as we began to think of day-to-day irritations of city life. Just then a car drove by with the stereo so loud it was like it was in our apartment. You could see a complaint forming in Len's mind. He took a breath, and then he looked over at Tess.

Tess's eyes were wide with excitement. She started to dance in her high chair, wiggling around and waving her hands. Len just burst out laughing.