21 SEP 25

Yali is very busy hot gluing strings to his 3D-print web shooters before church that morning...

...while Oxbear is in Detroit waiting for his last flight...

A few hours later when I ask Puck if he plans to join our Toyota shuttle to the airport... his Pavlovian response kicks in... “Auntie Anne's pretzels?” **big smile**... airport and soft pretzels have somehow become synonymous for him... pick up Dad... get a soft pretzel...

After he receives an “I'll consider it” from Mama... he begins meandering around the fruit bowl discarding a couple of Honeycrisps gone too far for eating... hear the front door open... “Are you throwing produce again?” // “I'm gonna throw it at your car” **big grin** // “Uh-uh... throw it at the tree”... Puck winds up for the hurl... apple flings out of his hand explodes into the sweetgum as large shards bounce onto the hood of my Civic anyway... two birds one apple... Puck turns around with a proud smile and an excuse... “Spiderweb got in my eye”...

Oxbear's plane slices back into St. Louis airspace around one-fifteen... both youngsters enter a slow jog when they see him at the end of baggage claim looking a little scraggly and tired but enthusiastic to be returned... long hugs for both... and hand-woven cloth and bags in bright colors from the Karen tribe of Myanmar now refugees in the hill country of Thailand...

...and yes... soldier man gets his soft pretzels...