A wiffle ball and Easter dinner

Huh? What possible connection could there be between a perforated, hard-plastic white ball and a Christian holy day?

In my mind, it comes down to reminiscing about my youngest son Saturday and then having a late dinner with him on Sunday.

After work Saturday, Lori suggested we take a walk to the neighborhood park so Otto could run around with other dogs. As we were getting ready to leave, I spotted a wiffle ball in the grass. I tossed it to Lori. She caught it and tossed it back. Just like that, we had an impromptu game of catch. A few throws into the game, I tossed one straight up in the air, mimicking a pop fly.

"Know what this reminds me of?" I said. "When Jordan was little, we'd play catch on the front lawn and  he used to love it when I'd throw it as high as I could. He'd settle under it and catch it nearly every time."

Easter came the next day. Lori and I had plans to go to an early dinner by ourselves. We canceled our reservations, however, when we learned that Jordan and Jamie were going to be passing through Portland a little earlier than anticipated. They'd gone down to southern Oregon to visit with Jamie's family and were headed back to their home in Olympia.

They were set on driving through so Jamie could report to work on time Monday morning, but they arrived in Portland with enough time to join us for dinner at a neighborhood restaurant. So, for a couple of hours we had a chance to catch up on what's new in their lives since we last saw Jordan at year's end. Topics: military life, household chores, tattoos, pets, parents, siblings and much more.

The "South Park" boys: Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Stan

I'll spare the details but share one thing that made us laugh. Among the soldiers in his unit, Jordan is nicknamed "Hippie" -- which, he said, tells you how conservative the rest of them are. How ironic! In our liberal family, Jordan's views on politics and social issues are the most moderate, occasionally veering toward right of center. And as a regular watcher of "South Park," he used to howl at the caricatures of clueless hippies portrayed on that irreverent television show.

Looking at him across the table, with his high-and-tight military haircut and taut biceps, I felt a sense of pride at seeing how well he and Jamie are doing as a young married couple. But Jordan a hippie? No way.