We all want to be better parents than our parents. We may succeed in small ways, but there is no such thing as perfect parents.

For example, my parents always tried to pin me down about my next trip home as I left after a visit. But however much I loved them, in my busy life, it wasn’t so easy to just get on a plane home.

Remembering those moments, I try not to ask our departing children how soon they will be back.

So imagine my surprise and delight when Seth found a few open days in his calendar and decided he could “work” at “home.” He arrived by bus on Sunday afternoon, and within an hour we were off to dinner and the theater, having been able to get an extra ticket for him.

The next morning, he commandeered the dining room table and wrote all day. He would take a break now and then, and luckily I was here to take advantage of every second. Tuesday was more of the same and Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m., he was gone.

What he got from his visit: the company of his loving parents, some quiet time to write, theater and dinner out and a refrigerator full of his favorite food. In addition, he left with my extra set of iPhone earbuds and half of our remaining supply of his favorite cheese.

It was a win-win visit.