Here's my spiel...

Wake to Patience sharing dreams about “attack bears” in the night...

...while Yali is walking around the house calling for help – trapped inside a folding chair like a straight jacket – it's not quite eight o'clock in the morning...

An hour later Patience and I are madly folding dozens of paper origami boxes at the old school for one of the diorama groups who is quickly running out of time to complete their project... the group is amazed at Patience's ability to origami so quickly and lavishes praise...

Meanwhile Yali watches all the students suspiciously... grabbing an occasional hello from an old classmate and swapping Roblox usernames with his “100% Irish!” buddy while a gaggle of 5th grade boys argues extensively over which one of them has more artistic talent...

Home to finish sweeping and dishes before the Army recruiter arrives... "R" pulls up in his truck exactly one minute after noon – full desert fatigues – then spends over an hour at the table with us in a jolly mood discussing every aspect of the Guard and without overt coercion... which is enormously appreciated...

After he leaves – with firm handshakes for everyone – Patience's professional assessment is that... “He's handsome!”... while Puck throws himself into a lounge onto the trampoline to vocally process the information-mountain with me under a sky packed with burgeoning cloud and bright sun...

Somehow nearly three hours of focused conversation and research passes... join Oxbear following a rumble of thunder in the sky for an online parents meeting...

...while Puck decides to use his surge of inspiration and self-discovery to reorganize the kitchen(!)...

And immediately back out the door to the studio to re-detail Puck's high school transcript which I haven't revisited in awhile... for the next ninety minutes while cottonwood wisps float whimsically over the land...

And all the boys drive out to St. Charles to pick up sacks of Wendy's and clear ten quarts of old oil out of the Jag...