Welcome to the club, Grandma. It is the most wonderful club in the world.
The best stories are 'real'. They are cut from life and they tell us about life, about ourselves, about others. We create a bond with the author when we see ourselves, our motivation in a character.
This is fiction, and this is fact. All good stories have the essence of truth.
Congratulations, @riverflows. My only grandchild is in college now. You have a spectacular journey ahead.
You got it! All stories have essences of the truth indeed. It couldn't have gone any other way when I read the prompt. I thought of him and the poles, and then the last boo in the mirror made utter sense and effortlessly arrived. Funny, me sitting in a classroom the hour he was born, writing this!