After my dental appointment today in Lexington, I stopped by the supermarket in Concord for a few things – honey mustard, oatmeal, orange juice – that are cheaper at that supermarket than anywhere else.  As I walked from my car to the store, I saw Louise, the mom of one of my former tutoring students, whom I haven’t seen in six or eight months, loading grocery bags into her minivan. 

“Hi, Louise,” I said, and she looked up and smiled. 

“Hi, Abby!  How are you?” 

Silently, and quickly, I reviewed my less-than-wonderful, fairly traumatic summer in my head, and thought about the sore throat that just cropped up this morning.  “Ok,” I said, “Surviving…How ’bout you?”

Louise looked at me for a second, then said, “Good, we’re good.”  A second of silence as she thought, and changed the subject, “Are you still tutoring?”

We talked very briefly about the neutral topic of tutoring, and then said goodbye – Louise continued to load her groceries, and I walked quickly into the store.  And we probably won’t see each other again for another six months, or even a year.