Was today a perfect summer day for thrills, spills, shrilly shrieks, sweaty flesh, sugar nourishment (fried, frozen, and flavored) and relaxation? With a little bit of luck and divine intervention thrown in ? A great friend who loves bees? A great driver who stopped for extra snacks and Dad’s bathroom breaks? Yes, it was. Just ask our free spirited, adventurous, confident, kind middle schooler with more energy than any physicist should be allowed to play with. SO much energy that the parental matter has been worn down to the bone. See, the energy and light that comes from our middle schooler is amazing and she is just getting started writing the story of her life. And I am sure she could tell lots of stories about her day today…but this is my blog and my post so I get to tell my story of what I did today. And it was every bit as terrifyingly fun and exhilarating as her stories.

But wait, there’s more. When we arrived at our destination and were jockeying for position to buy tickets, a smiling gang approached us. Yelling at us. Screaming at us. “Do you want tickets?”

Why yes. We want tickets. That is why we’re in this line. We can’t wait to spend half a million dollars for 6 hours of fun. And then it happened. The reason I knew we were right where God wanted us to be today…

“Here take these 3 free tickets…we will not use them. And we don’t want anything for them. Have fun”. That’s when I knew. It was going to be a good day. Well, actually an epic day.

First of all, with the way I see the world (not exactly 20/20 vision), merely walking from the opening gate to the first stop, a restroom was exciting. The turns and corners of every path we choose looks the same. Lots of skin, lots of humid hairy people and strollers. Many of which are not detected until the potential for skin to skin contact is too great to fathom.

As I navigate my way to what was supposed to be a restroom, I realized I was headed up the ramp to a particularly scary ride that seemed to drop children from the sky at an alarming rate. Not a safe place to be.

So, I turned around and found what I thought was the restroom again. But, I was wrong. Because that place was just a closed ice cream stand.

Next I sauntered up to a building with loud music coming from it. Yes…this is it. The restrooms. So I stepped forward. But, little did I know that the W and the O that come before MEN on the bathroom sign would not appear in my sight. Do you know what that means? It means I thought it said “MEN”. Alas, it was “WOMEN”.

Fortunately, I am a super quick processor of information so while it appeared that I was headed to the head of the wrong gender- I gathered my remaining sense of self and noticed in the nick of time that the humans without shirts on were walking into the other room. So I averted disaster. Although I don’t see…I mean… I don’t see what could happen if I went into a women’s restroom, because all I am looking at is the floor and I am sure they have toilets in there too. Right?

But at the end of the day, I made it. We made it. What an accomplishment. I was able to drink 5 bottles of water and only spent $100. And each time I went to the bathroom after that I was able to cut down on my mistaken entry problems by 50%. Hell, next year I will have no problem finding the John.

Great day. Perfect day. I did miss Wally who was safe and sound with his brother. Who I hooked up with some new pancake mix I found at Mim’s house while we were cleaning it out. He reported that the pancakes were a bit stiff and dry no matter how he mixed it. Oops…I did it again. Sorry pal, I didn’t realize that Mimi bought that pancake mix 4 years ago and left it open. My bad. The important thing is that our eldest was able to take care of Wally and keep doing things that make us proud. Like the dishes and stuff. Ya know. He got it done. So we are proud of him too.

He is bright eyed and motivated and going places. He probably is the only other human on the planet that can compete energy for energy with his sister. If he can avoid eating food that Dad finds from decades ago that is. But scouts should still keep their eye on him. He is going places. And going fast. Too fast for me and the Real Boss to keep up with. And that is a good thing. It means he is growing into the purpose designed for him. And whatever it is…it will be great.

And so ends another amazing day in the ride of our lives. The academy will be super busy transitioning this fall, so we are sucking every last drop of delight out of every summer day left.

Onwards and upwards. And hopefully I can find a bathroom.

Thanks for coming!