Commotio Cordis

Friday was an Institute Day, so no school. Naturally Judah had it in his mind that we’d take the Metra to Elmhurst. And to his credit it was also on the calendar.

I was vaguely aware.

Sidebar: I barely know what the plan is. That is, I generally wing it. I know the gist of things, sure. But an Institute Day is almost always going to sneak up on me like a pride of lions. It will come out of nowhere and present a feeling of great anxiety.

Sidebar to the sidebar: A lot of adults will look at their weather app to determine what they might wear outside. I look out the window and guess. I’m right about 70% of the time; which is not that good. I’m barely passing.

I digress.

Judah had discussed the Metra outing with Pam and she’d put in on the calendar — as is our custom. Even though I’m better with the calendar app than the weather app, I still missed it. Of course, Judah EXCELS at protocol, especially when it serves his interests.

“Are we going to Elmhurst tomorrow, Dad?”

“Um, I-”

“There’s no school and Mom said.”

“Well, then, yes.”

As it happened my friend Manny must have looked at his calendar app and knew there was no school as well because he messaged me asking what our plans were for…