So Doyce, how’s the visit going?

Went to the zoo Sunday, which is a walking thing, so I walked ahead most of the time (no great surprise to the people with whom I went to England); this practice took me out of earshot whenever I felt the needed to be.

JEEZ she babies him. Gah. He’s twelve, he can put on sunscreen himself; he can make himself a sandwich.

It’s when I see stuff like that that I realize how self-sufficient he already is — it’s not as though we cut him loose in the wild for weeks at a time with nothing but a bowie knife and a copy of Boy’s Life, but he really does okay. I guess it’s easier to see when it’s compared relative to something so much worse.

FWIW, and to give her (as generously as possible) the benefit of the doubt, he's not living with her, so much of that is likely obsolete behavior she hasn't learned to get rid of.

That being said, you guys have done a hell of a job in getting Justin to be a responsible, capable young man.

I feel your pain... I really do...