My grandson and I before the pandemic

I am busier than I’ve ever been: Blogging, preparing for podcast interviews, interviewing, being interviewed myself, and writing the first draft of our biographical novel – with time squeezed in for exercise and tai chi each day. It’s a fruitful and productive season for Ed and me, despite the inevitable challenges of the pandemic.

But every morning at 9:30, I take time away from my otherwise busy schedule and spend a half hour on Facetime teaching writing to my nine-year-old grandson. Writing with Nani we call it. Like most kids, he is home from school and his 4th grade teacher has told us what he should learn.

Today, we worked on the structure of a good paragraph. You know… topic sentence, supporting details and a concluding sentence that wraps up the main points.

“I don’t know why you have to say again at the end what you already said at the beginning,” he complained.

In an attempt to explain, I drew this picture. “Here’s a sandwich. The piece of bread at the top is your topic sentence. All the yummy stuff in the middle of the sandwich is your detail. But you need another piece of bread to hold the sandwich together,” I said, feeling brilliant.

“Your bread is levitating, Nani,” is all he said in response.

So, I ask you: What did you do this Friday?