It’s not easy to find something amusing when one’s spouse is in a rehab facility facing a long and painful recovery from a fractured femur.

Fortunately, our son Jeremy can always make me laugh.

Here’s what happened. On a summer-like day last week. I took an afternoon break from the rehab center to walk with my friend Carrie, a Kennedy School graduate and friend who lives not too far from the hospital. We walked for over an hour, chatting non-stop about everything except Peter’s broken femur.

At one point, she asked me to guess who she was having a drink with that evening. I mentioned a mutual friend. “No,” she said, “although that’s a good guess.” In fact, she was going to meet a friend she knows through her daughters’ school. And who might that be? Michelle Obama. Just the two of them!

I mentioned this to Jeremy that evening, telling him how excited I was for Carrie. Jeremy’s response:

“Well I wonder what Michelle Obama thought when she heard who Carrie walked with today!”