Rituals

Our lives are made up of a lot of rituals. I miss the bedtime rituals of yesterday when there was a story and some songs and a tuck. Now I often sit on the bed opposite Graces and act as homework cheerleader or police depending. I watch the gerbils and the fish, I stare at the walls and look longingly at the book shelf,  I supply the definition for words like speculum and conspicuous and help discover the symbolism in "The Secret Garden". I don't help with math but I do still give a kiss and a tuck.