Fish stew and cravates

Chris made a pot of fish stew last night, which is noteworthy for many reasons. The stew was absolutely delicious. Chris went out and bought the ingredients, consulted a recipe book, and produced a glistening, mouth watering concoction of white fish, clams, and red and orange peppers in a reddish broth. His brother Alex heartily complimented him on the meal.

In the past, Chris's culinary skills were lacking. He didn't seem to care what he ate or how it looked. Remember the peas or carrots? He let me choose. Recently, he announced to me that he wants to take more care with how he does things and how he looks. It is possible that his sense of taste and color are reviving. I have been down this road many times since Chris's problems began. Small things make me excited. We have all experienced these small victories.

He is still wearing the same dull necktie that he bought when starting university. "I began to think something was seriously wrong with Chris," my husband said, "when he chose the dullest gray tie imaginable from a rack of real beauties." My husband is a tie person.

Chris is intellectually able but does not wish to, or is not able to, pursue academic studies at this time. I wonder if he is more an artist now than the promising academic he seemed to be in high school. I do not take his lack of academic ambition as a sign that he has suffered intellectual impairment. Instead, I see a young man with a lot of musical talent and untapped creativity.