28 March-3 April 2018: My 2.5-year-old nephew Eli likes trains. A LOT. That is one of my take-aways from my week visiting my sister Meghan and my brother-in-law Aaron in Eugene, Oregon.

• “What did you do at school today, Eli?”
• “Play trains.”
• “What do you want to do now?”
• “Play trains with Uncle Ben.”

I last saw Eli in late November-early December 2016, if memory serves, and he’s a lot more fun now that he can talk! He can also ride a bicycle (these clever kiddie bikes without training wheels but also without pedals, so kids scan scoot around on them, Fred Flintstone-car-style, and practice balance skills that will aid their learning to ride a true bicycle later) and run around. Mama & Papa even have him potty-trained already, which I’m sure his preschool teachers appreciate.

It’s neat seeing his personality develop. Unfortunately he seems to be developing the same perfectionist streak I had as a kid, when I’d get so angry at myself for biffing something up playing Nintendo or whatever that I’d throw a tantrum. I saw Eli display this playing with his Brio train set when his locomotive derailed going around a sharp curve; he’d start to cry until he (or Papa) got the train cars back on the tracks. And again when, riding his bike, he barreled down a handicapped ramp and wiped out spectacularly. He wasn’t crying about the boo-boo he got on his hand; he was crying about his failure to stay upright. He didn’t stop wailing until Mama and Papa let him try again, and the second time was the charm.

As great as Eli is, I did notice that it takes his Mama and Papa an awful long time to get him to go to sleep each night. And I certainly don’t have his stamina for watching the train yard episode of Mighty Machines again and again. My determination to remain childless is still firm.

Of course, my visit to Eugene was not only about my nephew. My sister Meghan cooked delicious meals and baked delicious bread (my mouth is watering just thinking about it, and I’m in Taiwan right now where the bar for food is set very high) for us all, and my brother-in-law Aaron on 30 March drove us to the beautiful, and very windy, Oregon coast, which I’m ashamed to say I never visited the entire four years I was enrolled at Reed College in Portland, a ways downstream from Eugene, back in the glorious 1990s. Well, I finally made it there, and even dipped my toe in the Pacific to prove it! Aaron took the wheel again the following day to take us hiking up Spencer Butte, overlooking Eugene, for more spectacular views.

I also have to thank Aaron for letting me sleep in his office, which doubles as the guest bedroom. All in all, if my trip ’round the world is the Lord of the Rings, my visit to Eugene was the Hobbit — a very satisfying prequel!