DK, where’s my phone?

“DK!” my son Solomon squeals in his best imitations of a 13-year-old girl. “Where’s my phone?”

Solomon howls with laughter. My other son Samson looks at me and rolls his eyes. My wife Katie is quiet. So am I. The joke doesn’t work with us after the 50th time. What’s the joke?

In Donkey Kong Bonanza, a game for the Switch 2 we couldn’t afford but gave the boys for Christmas anyway, Donkey Kong’s traveling companion is a 13-year-old girl named Pauline.

Solomon has decided that 13-year-old girls are obsessed with their phones. I can’t say that he is wrong. Still, it becomes harder to listen to my son’s impersonation of a 13-year-old girl as December blurs with January.

***

Winter break continues. The Tanner family has done very little this holiday season.

We intended to travel to the Twin Cities for Katie’s Great Aunt’s funeral. Maybe see a little family. The ceremony was held in Wilmer in the aftermath of a blizzard that kept us home. I felt bad we didn’t go. I know Katie wanted to be there. Still, I was okay avoiding driving through a winter storm. I-35 was closed on Monday morning. It would have been a treacherous trip.

So we stayed home. And the days began to blur. I played enough video games for six lifetimes. I hate to admit it, but I fired up Hearts of Iron 4, a complex simulation of World War Two. Katie was horrified when I told her that my panzers rolled into the streets of London and the United Kingdom fell.

“I guess Netflix won’t be making The Crown in this timeline,” I told her.

“You need to talk to your therapist, Sam,” Katie told me. She often tells me this now that I have a therapist. Especially when I’m commanding the German Reich.

I didn’t only play video games over break. The snow melted over Christmas, and the flag football game I play in scheduled a finale. My team won, despite having me. I played lots of basketball at the University of Iowa’s rec center. We took the boys swimming there a few times. Katie used an elliptical. I ran around the track. Iowa has a great rec center. I’m not sure why we haven’t made use of it before. Note to self.

I sat in coffee shops and worked a little on my writing. I didn’t work on much else. I like sitting in coffee shops and working on my writing. In fact, I’m sitting in one right now, sipping a sweet chai tea, and using this blog to warm-up.

It’s good to warm-up when you write. A short blog gets the words flowing.

***

The boys are back to school next week. I have meetings on campus. Things will start thinging again. Who knows what that thinging will lead to? Thy will be done.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoy December blurring with January. Crisp air. Christmas lights in the living room . Time with Katie and the boys. Basketball, coffee, and writing. And, to my shame, taking the German Reich for a spin.

I’ve enjoyed winter break, even when Solomon impersonates a 13-year-old girl.

“DK!” he squeals for a 51st time. “Where’s my phone.”

Where, indeed.