Monday, September 19, 10:00 PM. Amy.

We had a delightful performance from the kids this evening. They’ve been bored out of their skulls the last few days, stuck inside. I suggested they put on a skit show for us and somehow that caught their imagination.

They were absolutely engrossed in the preparations all afternoon. Even if the performance had never happened, seeing them working together, laughing, discussing, and rehearsing brought joy to my heart.

The performance itself was…not Broadway material, shall we say, but it was everything I could have hoped for. It was what they used to call a “variety show,” though I haven’t seen anything like that on TV in a while.

There were several musical numbers. Für Elise with both Trevor and Claire on piano—a three-handed version. An actually quite stirring rendition of “All By Myself” with Garrett on guitar and Claire singing. She has a lovely voice. “Be Thou My Vision” with all three singing in unison.

Trevor did a comedy “bit” with the sort of joke he favors, including such perennial hits as “What’s black and white and red all over?” and “Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up by itself?” Garrett hasn’t done magic in a few years, but he brought out some of his old tricks. Making a pencil levitate. Cutting a string in two and rejoining it. Making a salt cellar vanish. (I still don’t know how he does that one.) Some of the tricks Claire only dimly remembered and Trevor had never seen. They caused quite a sensation.

The kids performed four or five skits, two of which they wrote themselves. I’m not sure Brewer or I “got” all of them, but we clapped and cheered all the same. At the end, watching the three of them grab each others’ hands and take a bow, with such pride on their faces, brought me nearly to tears. Our days are not entirely without happiness, but that was the happiest I’ve been in months.

Afterward I was trying to tell them about the old 1970s variety shows that they had unconsciously imitated. The urge to show them an example was so strong that I actually picked up Garrett’s phone. Then I remembered that YouTube, too, is a thing of the past.

Despite all the exercise we’re getting each day, I can’t seem to keep off the weight. That’s a good sign, no doubt. I hope the baby is healthy.