Flower Power

Nantucket, MA

April 27th, 2024

There are times I’d like to throttle my son.

There are times when he’s behavior is so out of lockstep with the way I relate to the world, I question whether we actually share DNA. But more often than not, Griffin’s innate and effortless empathy blows my mind. Even as a toddler, he excelled at comforting others. And despite being occasionally hijacked by hostile hormones, Griffin the teenager is just as sensitive and kind.

So when I asked him last night if he’d be willing to accompany me to the Nantucket Historical Association’s Flower Power Gala, a fancy fundraiser at the Whaling Museum, he agreed.

Intuiting my need for companionship, he leveled up  his PlayStation sweatpants for a dress shit and khakis, gelled his hair and offered me his arm. The youngest gentleman in attendance by several decades, he bravely strode into a sea of daffodil donned donors and asked me if I wanted to dance.

For over an hour Griffin was the perfect date.

He politely navigated adult introductions and enthusiastically twirled me under the disco ball. There was no trace of the moody 14-year old I had only hours earlier scolded for manipulating his screen time.

When we mutually decided it was time to go, Griffin told me he’d had an amazing time and thanked me for bringing him.

He had seen what I needed and had selflessly given it to me. In that moment, as in many others, I felt overwhelmingly proud of the human being he has become.