What really matters

So I have something to say about how spinning bamboo is actually just as hard as spinning silk, and how I actually plan to finish the stripy sweater, and how I'm going out to knit night tonight if I have to bribe the children with movies and candy, but that's not very important right now.

Well, okay, it is important right now, as is the fact that I am seriously considering military boarding school for my middle two. It's a long story, and maybe I'll tell it in the future, but right now I'm sort of beside myself.

But what's more important right now is how much personal growth (military boarding school fantasies excepted) I've achieved in the last thirteen years. I could have gone on a pilgrimage to India, sat in contemplation at a Buddhist temple in Thailand, joined the Peace Corps, or walked the Appalachian trail.

Instead, I had children. And one special one started the entire journey:


Happy birthday, sweetheart. It's been a great ride so far. How do you feel about boarding school?

Oh, and just 'cause I can't resist -- here's how the walls turned out behind the candlelight. Since the light color didn't really cover the dark, I got an "I totally planned this" kind of two-tone look. We still have finishing work to do, of course.