As I write this, I can hear two men upstairs talking forcefully on their separate Zoom calls. They are my son Adam and his partner Corey, and they are working from home.

My home.

They have moved into my upstairs area, essentially an apartment with bedroom, bath and lounge, sans kitchen, for a month while their apartment in the uptown area of Dallas is being renovated.

This is a win-win for everyone except the cats.

Yes, there are cats. And rolling racks of clothes, and large boxes of artwork, and . . .

Let me start at the beginning.

They moved out of their apartment 6 weeks ago and into an Airbnb in Lakewood. They planned to be in that location for a month, then come to stay with me for two weeks.

Plans change.

They were told it would be an additional two weeks. I was thrilled.

Then the deliveries started. First they brought over multiple, very large boxes of framed artwork they didn’t want put into storage. No problem, we stuffed them in the dormer windows upstairs.

Then Adam brought over a rolling rack of his summer clothes. We stuffed it in the dormer.

Then before they even moved in, two big boxes of new rugs arrived. I dragged them upstairs and stuffed them into the dormers. It was starting to get crowded and I feared the floor might collapse and fall on me while I slept.

Then came the giant screen. One of those full-sized Japanese Shoji screens with lattice on one side and rice paper on the other. I dragged it in the house and left it for the boys (yes, that’s what I call them, stop judging) to drag upstairs and supposedly stuff in a dormer (fat chance.)

Then, two weeks ago, they moved in. I had tried to clean out closet space upstairs, but it’s hard because my closets are consumed by holiday buckets, extra Christmas trees, wreaths, and a giant nutcracker. I like Christmas. But I managed to empty a closet for Corey, one for Adam, and another downstairs space for Adam’s overflow.

My son is fancy. If you know him, or have seen pictures, you know this is true. He wears blazers and brooches and white pants year round. It’s one of the things we all love about him, including Corey, thank God. So there are lots and lots and lots of clothes.

Fortunately Corey keeps his flame to a simmer so he doesn’t need as much space.

We haven’t talked about the screen or the cats, but that will be for next week; they deserve a post of their own.

In the meantime let me just say that I am overjoyed to have the boys here. Adam and I have loved our morning coffee time. Corey and I have had time for long talks in the evening and while Adam was traveling to DC. We have all shared meals out and delivered in, and Adam, Corey and I have all cooked. Mostly Adam, who is a savant with spices.

Our two weeks have been, as Adam would tell you, “charmed.” And as Corey has told me, “so much better than the Airbnb.” This is high praise.

I’m just so grateful to get this time. And that I have dormer windows.

Since they got here, there have been minimal deliveries, except for the box of 15 pairs of white pants that arrived on Tuesday. Adam says they are replacement pants for the summer to come.

That’s my boy.