My 11-year-old son and I are standing with our grocery cart in the checkout aisle, and he says to me, "I'm going to buy some stuff now."

"You mean junk?" I ask.

"Yeah. Chocolate bars. For you."

That's sweet, I think, and say, "Why?"

"For your period!"

This morning we walked two miles together and seven vehicles passed us on the road, four of them grain-hauling trucks.

As we approached the driveway on our way back, four Canada Geese flew low over the trees. A crow is perched in a tree near the kitchen window. The migratory birds are returning, and I welcome them as signs that life is rolling along as it always has and, I want to believe, always will.