A Thought About Love #10 — After the Math Exam

 

In middle school,
he'd often stay up all night gaming
and skip school the next day.

He barely went to his academy for eight months.

Once he started high school,
at least he stopped skipping.

'Should I say thank you for that???'

That winter break,
his academy wouldn't take him back,
so we started private tutoring —
back to ninth-grade math.

It wasn't something we could easily afford.
We decided to anyway.

· · ·

A year went by.

He's a junior now.
Yesterday was his second math exam of the semester.

The whole way home,
I couldn't stop wondering.

'How'd the math test go today?'

I wanted to ask.

Over dinner,
I spoke first.

"You worked hard on that math test.
Must've been tough. Exams are like that —
nerve-wracking, all that pressure."

My wife followed right after,
"You did great, son!!"

And that's how,
the two of us
held back the words.

'How'd it go?'