We asked Bill if he would like to visit downtown Chicago his first weekend with us. He was not interested in seeing any Windy City tourist attractions. He wanted to play basketball. I decided he if he didn’t want explore the cultural opportunities our city had to offer, we would introduce him to a few new people.
I made a quick phone call to some friends with a pool, a basketball hoop and a generous nature and obtained a friendly invitation. We packed our swim suits, confirmed that Bill knew how to swim and headed out.
He seemed interested in meeting our friends, and seemed genuinely interested in their three younger children. He ended up playing basketball with the fifth grader, and then joined us in the pool. He answered our questions about life in China with a good nature and seemed to have an enjoyable day. I did have to explain to him that the appetizers our hostess set out were for everyone, not just him when I saw him shoveling food in his mouth while standing over the platter. I also found it strange that he felt it was necessary to face time his father in the middle of the evening, and then proceed to speak with him for a least a half hour.
All in all, it was an entertaining evening.
The next day, we took him to meet Grama and Grampa. They are older, and not in the best of heath. Grama has short-term memory issues, and asked him the same questions over and over. To his credit, he patiently answered her each time. When I told him on the way home it was nice that he was so polite to her repeated questions, he said what do you mean?
He didn’t even notice.
When we had friends over for a Labor Day BBQ, he hid in his room for most of time, joining us only to eat and briefly chit-chat. He claimed he had homework, which I found out later he didn’t do – he told me he was going to ask for an extension because he said he didn’t feel like finishing it on time.
I guess he was done meeting new people for a while.