People, Parties, and Places

My friend Melissa dropped in for a visit last weekend. We've been friends since fourth grade, and it always feels good to be with someone who knows, without explanation, that I've hated Doritos since middle school. Usually in situations like these, a mother dreads that the old friend will talk too much about their wild youth. In our case, we were dorks who never did anything particularly shocking. Makes life easier as a parent.

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We held our Ninth Annual All Saints' Day Party on Saturday. Our ninth, wow. For past parties, we've asked guests to bring a food related to a certain saint, and provided cards for them to write it down. We forgot the cards this year. Rest assured that the food was good, varied, and connected to the saints by only the most tenuous threads.

One of the fun parts of this annual event is the ever-changing guest list. We had a great turnout this year, many of them newcomers. On the other hand, Leah Garber and Charlessa (Gates) McConnell have come nearly every year.

Next year is our tenth. Maybe all our old friends can return, along with our new ones. We'll call it The Homecoming. On second thought, considering that we're talking about saints and martyrs, a party called The Homecoming rings a little ominous.

As a final note, I realized when planning this party that All Saints' Day Party can be shortened to ASDP -- our children's initials. It's made me laugh all month.

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Stuart missed the dinosaur craze (about age 4 through 6) the first time around; he was too interested in mythological beasts then. Well, now he's caught it. So today we took the grand adventure of going into Washington D.C. to see the dinosaur bones in the Museum of Natural History. We've been saying for years (nine and a half, to be exact) that we can't wait till the kids are old enough to enjoy day trips to D.C.

Addie and Stuart are finally old enough to enjoy the displays and information. Daphne admired everything on her way past to something else. And Phillip was thrilled with the open layout that let him run as long as his short little legs would carry him.

This picture is a good visual interpretation of respective attention spans.

But for all four kids, everything in that museum paled in comparison to the utter joy of riding the Metro.





What was more fun is that Dana was able to meet us there. Sixteen years of friendship, four kids on one side, and a dissertation away from a Ph.D on the other side. It made the day special.

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And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that, last week, I took all the kids to the dentist, and they all came away with good reports. Medal please?

-- SJ