I babysat my one year old grandson last night for ninety minutes and he screamed almost the entire time; I spent the last forty minutes holding him and wearing noise cancelling headphones. He finally fell asleep about five minutes before his mother got back, and, while my nerves were completely shot and I was at my wits’ end, I was still lucid enough to notice, as I have throughout my life, that there really is no consoling those who do not want to be consoled.
(First published July 2016. – Owen)