Kelly turned 17 on Friday and we took him to Philly on Monday to celebrate, picking up Pete and going to a nearby restaurant, Route 6, for dinner. It was a very nice dinner and it was nice to see Pete, who has been at Temple for the past month.

Best of all, Kelly has been battling a flare for about the last 6 weeks, and in the past week has made significant progress. For us, this is a huge deal, because Kelly has never had a flare that didn’t require being hospitalized to resolve. If he can start to manage his recovery without a trip to CHOP, well, that would be huge. And it looks like that is happening. We’re not all the way out of the woods, but Kelly’s energy is getting better, he’s back in school, and the other markers of illness are in retreat. We are very, very grateful.

And we had a very good time with Pete, who filled us in on his new jobs with a realty management company and shoveling around campus when the snow falls (which has been frequent this winter). He also made clear his disinterest in a relationship, of any form. He is funny.