06 JAN 26

Kids are bulldozing through a bag of mini marshmallows that morning...

...while Puck... having freshly completed another work-out in the basement... lights matches and tosses them at his brother...

“HAHAHA!” Yali laughs and dodges the flaming missiles...

“Boys...”

But they're busy waving boffer sticks and electrical cords at each other in friendly battle on the staircase yelling too loudly for Oxbear's conference call with Colorado and North Carolina...

The afternoon relaxes into temporary quiet... Yali's stretched on his back balanced on the end of the couch watching a housefly battle take place above his head under the ceiling fan... cheerleading his favorite punching the air with a victory fist... “Come on buddy! STAY STRONG!”

An hour at the park drenched in early winter sunshine whispering at spring... Yali chasing Patience with Puck's old rainbow plaid collared shirt wrapped around his head like a sheik... lonely bee zipping past hunting pollen...

...before Patience kicks back to the studio for the new semester with friends... leaving an hour and fifteen minutes later in a perpetual word-stream of friends and schedules and nails and things...

...and we're home again preparing for evening readings as Patience pulls out her gratitude journal where she's filled out two more lines... today she's thankful for “Trash” and “God”...