Kinda like “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” this post was heading toward Twelve Pictures in Search of a Theme. After I came up blank trying to find something to tie them all together, I realized, duh, BEN’s all the theme we need!

So here are a few peeks into Ben’s world of late, or at least his world on our weekends with him.


When looking for a particular book, Ben leaves no stone (or anything else) unturned.
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Three drops of water is all it takes for Ben to consider his shirt too wet to wear. And so off comes the shirt and, if he is in our apartment, Ben heads to our suitcase, from which he usually extracts something of Karen’s. Ben is very comfortable in his masculinity.
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Given his propensity for pink, Ben is in his element strutting through the Cleveland Art Museum atrium.
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One of Ben’s favorite activities with us is a trip to Cleveland’s Art Museum (this is the atrium’s skylight, one example of the place’s gorgeous architecture). He does what I call Aerobic Museum Touring, almost a sprint through the whole place, sometimes getting us in and out in under a half hour — which means no charge in their parking garage.
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Karen and I were standing in Ben’s kitchen talking to his staff when he walked out of his bedroom. And for a second, I literally did not realize it was him. We knew it was time for a haircut, but holy cow!
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Seems Ben might be getting cynical about Christmas. This past weekend, Karen, as usual, bought a half-dozen books for Ben on our usual trip to Half Price Books. Ben always picks just one and only one book. We walk in the door together (Ben and I – he walks twice the speed of Karen) and head straight back to the kids’ section, where he quickly flips through the shelf of Golden Books, carefully makes his choice, and is ready to go, which is what he and I do. Karen lags behind and picks a few more while Ben and I go get the car. This time, Karen included a couple Christmas-themed books (Ben’s a fan of Mary Kate and Ashley’s video, The Case of the Christmas Caper), and one of them with a baby no less — Ben gets a kick out of babies. And Ben immediately ripped them up, tearing the covers off and tossing them in the front seat. Why? Who the heck knows. Maybe he’s waging a one-man War on Christmas.
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Ben loves to drive, or actually, be driven. His request to “Drive fast” is second only to “Go to Luna Bakery” (or “Go to McDonald’s” or “…to Wendy’s” or “Five Guys Burgers” or, well, detect a theme?). So a trip to Pittsburgh is a favorite activity because we drive 2 hours there, see our friends and have lunch, and at his insistence as soon as he’s eaten, get back in the car and drive 2 hours back. And sometimes he takes a post-lunch nap.
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Ben consumes food in his own way, and in different ways. This time, he deconstructed his cheeseburgers and filet-o-fish, rebuilt them into a deluxe creation, and then deconstructed it yet again to eat each part — meat, bun, fish — one at a time. Here it is at the beginning of the re-deconstruction phase.
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Ben still likes juice boxes, though he’s outgrown the straw, tossing it aside after using it to punch the hole. Yet he still makes sure to get Every. Last. Drop.
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Wow. A field. Yeah, whoopdeedoo. Blue, green (two whole shades! No extra charge), white, yellow, unless you’re color blind. Then it’s, heck, I have no idea. This is near Hiram on a Ben drive, one of our regular routes. At least Ben lives in a picturesque part of the country, which helps when 90% of our visits are spent in the car to “Drive fast” or, in this case, “Drive in the country.”
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Among Ben’s tasks is taking out the garbage, and then going to get the mail. When we’re leaving the apartment, Ben’s “The Garbage Man,” and after it’s been shoved down the chute, I give him the mailbox key and Ben becomes “The Mailman” as we head downstairs to the mail room. Everyday life = Vocational training!
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Ben vs. Razor
Decision: Tie.

A Day (or two) In the Life