Sunshine

Life, as it so often does, got better.

Actually, it was always pretty good. Now that I've had more sleep, more time to recharge, and less biological interference, I'm happy to give sunshine its turn.

* Two weekends ago, our friends Jayme and Todd told us about a community contra-dance being held about an hour away from us. Anybody who knows the History of Darren and Sara knows that we first got to know each other specifically because we didn't go out dancing with our friends. Ever since then, however, we've wanted to give it a whirl (literally). Ten years later, it finally happened.

You know how you look forward to something so much -- romanticize it so much -- that when you finally get to do it, it falls a little flat? Well, that's not what happened here. Darren and I had... um, had a ball. We made lots of mistakes, but then, so did everybody else (except probably Todd and Jayme). The whole thing deserves its own blog post. We hadn't even caught our breath from the first dance before we were talking about "next time."

* We're almost officially done with school for the year. Darren's going to go over a couple more math concepts with A&S, and then our summer begins. I always thought I'd be the type to homeschool through the summer. That was before I actually, you know, homeschooled anybody.

I am very pleased with the kids' progress in math. I've pushed hard in math because I know that if I let it lapse, they won't just pick it up later. And they're finishing with a good grasp of multiplication, rounding, division, fractions, and solving two-step equations. Did you hear that wind whistling through the treetops? That's me sighing with relief.

* Daphne spends half-hours at the time now drawing dragons, cats, and unicorns. And they're very recognizable. She also often draws my D&D character, Calla, with her character, Kitty. She makes Calla very tall with an oval-shaped body, a thatch of curly hair on top, and two very pronounced ears. It's very charming.

* I dreamed that my friend Danielle had another baby and named her Calla. I was delighted, because I love the name but couldn't get it through committee when naming my own children. Then I woke up and was disappointed. Danielle produces very cute kids, deserving of a name like Calla. So Danielle, could you see about that for me? Thanks.

* Speaking of dreams, the other night I dreamed I was having lunch with my "best friend," a man. While we lunched together, I explained some of the things my husband and I had been discussing. Then, happily, I exclaimed, "My husband and my best friend -- my two favorite men!" Once awake, I realized that the two men in the dream were, in fact, both Darren.

* Speaking of Darren, which I do more frequently than is seemly for a woman married a decade, he was one step ahead of my Thundercloud post below. He'd already reserved a hotel room for me this weekend. We enjoyed a date, and then he went home. I stayed by myself in the quiet, clean hotel room and played Wizard 101 without interruptions, then slept without interruptions, then enjoyed a morning without interruptions. Gold stars for my husband and best friend.

* I forgot to pack my brush for the hotel stay. Fortunately, I just got my hair cut, so it was easier to make it go into place. Also fortunately, I've seen The Little Mermaid so know how to use a dinglehopper.

-- SJ