Psalm 23

What a pretty smile!  Madison has been pretty upbeat lately, possibly because of that infectious little thing called "summer is almost here!"  All the kids have it, a certain wildness and inability to keep still, or quiet even.

She did manage to keep still at the dentist today though - where she once again showed that pretty smile.  She's had three cavities on teeth that won't fall out for some time, so something had to be done, unfortunately.  Madison takes all of this without any problems though - no fear of dentistry here.  In fact, at one point, the "sander" thing (that abrasive device) was smoothing out some areas in her teeth, and she was actually laughing.  It was tickling her nose.

Me?  I'd be clenching my fists in terror, just waiting for that one moment where something goes wrong and I feel that jolt of unexpected pain coursing up and down my face.  Madison though?  She's sitting there, laughing.

For that, she deserves to go to the dental treasure box.  It's the reason we go to the dentist in the first place, right?  It's like the reason we go to the bank:  to get lollipops.  But with the dentist, there is a hallowed treasure chest, built to look just like the ones you find filled with treasure at the bottom of tiny aquariums.  Only this treasure is different:  it's a vast paradise of small plastic things.  There are so many choices, and the difficult part is choosing just one.  Fortunately, there's another dentist visit in the future, where Madison needs to have some sort of coating put on her teeth.  This is great news, because we can go back to that dental treasure box!

On her way to the dentist, Madison was quoting Psalm 23.  Not because she was about to walk through the valley of the shadow of death though.  Daddy would be doing that.  Forget the "Crown Him with many crowns" scripture.  Instead, it would be "I will fear no evil!"  Madison, however, wasn't quoting that scripture for any reason other than she has recently committed time to memorizing it.  Her teacher, Ms. Halson, is doing a great job of going through this Bible passage, and Madison is devoted to learning the entire thing.

We got home tonight, and yes there were tater tots.  This is even more of a reward than a dental treasure box.  Oh yes, it is.  We also had some gluten free hot dogs.  We must have been really good today.  God is our provider:  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!

There are only two more Mondays left of school, and this second-to-last Monday was a good one for Madison.  She doesn't have any more spelling tests, and not much left to do on homework either.  It's sort of automatic pilot from this point on, though there is limited learning going on.

One big thing she got was her yearbook.  She brought this home to show us, and we found her picture about three times so far inside.  There are a couple candids where she is smiling nice and big for the photographer.  In another photo, she's busy, hard at work and painting something in art class.  Madison had her friends sign her yearbook - and she signed theirs as well.  Her class took turns signing each other's yearbooks, which was sweet.  Daddy didn't have a yearbook at such an early age - it may have been middle school where the first yearbooks in my collection were purchased (or even offered?).  Regardless, we're starting early with Madison.  Yearbook companies are making a killing on this - an entire lifetime of books!  But who can resist such a memory?

The book itself is well done, and a nice glimpse into the year here at this elementary school.  Many, many years ago, Daddy was on the annual staff.  I don't remember much of the work involved - it was a full year, and I think it was one of those things you had to be nominated to do.  So it was quite an honor.  We actually got to fly out to Dallas, Texas to the publishing company for a day.  We saw the book publisher's building, and then went downtown to eat at a restaurant that was way up high in a skyscraper downtown.  All I remember eating was the Belgium waffles.  That may have been my first Belgium waffle - and possibly the last.  I don't remember eating a Belgium waffle after that.  I couldn't even tell you what a Belgium waffle is right now without looking it up.  But it must have been important to all of us, because we made a big deal about how good they were.  Afterwards, we drove to the Hard Rock Cafe, which was a big deal back then.  Everyone had to get their Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts.  We got ours, of course, and posed for pictures in front of the Elvis stained glass windows, and various rock and roll artifacts.  There were a few Hard Rock Cafes back then, but not many.  To have an official t-shirt from one of those places was a big deal, mainly because there weren't any nearby us at the time.  Later on, there would be a Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta, although I don't think it lasted long.  We did eat there a few times - I never got a t-shirt from that location.  I think when all was said and done, we got t-shirts from the locations in Orlando, Aspen, Dallas and Las Vegas.  As with a lot of things of our youth, I'm not entirely sure why we were so obsessed with visiting these places.  At the time, you're so interested in the history of rock and roll.  And now... well, it's just loud music in a restaurant.  Seriously, the last time I went there the music was so loud that I couldn't have a conversation with the person I went with!  Still, at the time, we had to go.  One time on the way back from Colorado, we heard there was a Hard Rock Cafe in St. Louis.  It was first thing in the morning, before the traffic was building up there for rush hour.  And we had to find the location of this mystical Hard Rock Cafe.  In the end, we discovered there wasn't one at all.  The reason we thought there was is because we saw it on a t-shirt.  Back then, there was even a market for Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts - fake ones - that were listed in cities where there was no Hard Rock Cafe.  So, disappointed, we went to see the St. Louis Arch instead.  Of course, I'm exaggerating a tiny bit on our consolation prize:  the Arch is amazing.  As was that little arcade on the riverboat right there on the Mississippi River.

Obviously, this blog entry is meandering like that mighty river - way off course.  We ended the day in Dallas with a flight back that stained my memory forever.  It was a nightmare.  The weather was so incredibly rough that I have had problems on planes ever since.  I didn't know how to depressurize my head (that little trick you do when you dive under water?).  So I had this pounding headache.  Our plane took about four or five swings around Atlanta one the way back, but just couldn't land.  The weather was too rough.  And we were jostled around so much.  It's all routine, the jostling.  But each bump was something unexpected, unplanned for.  How can you hit a bump in the air?  It's AIR.  You go up, and smoothly fly around, right?  Of course, I had no idea about such things back then.  All I know was that it felt like we were flying through an asteroid field, and hitting a bunch of rocks along the way.  Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.  For You are with me.  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Fast forward to 2008, in China.  Now there was an equally amazing flight.  This was after traveling for over twenty hours or so.  We're on the homestretch from Tokyo to Beijing.  But we can't land.  Again.  It's the middle of the night.  We circle and circle. And there's no way we can land.  And the pilot announces we have to go somewhere nearby to land and get fuel.  So where to we land?  KOREA.  I'm not making that up.  We landed in another country, so far my only visit to South Korea.  We couldn't get off the plane, because it was another country.  But we couldn't take off either, because Beijing was still closed.  We actually took off some time later, but suddenly Beijing was closed off again.  We circled again, and this time made our landing.  It was smooth, and we were suddenly at our destination.  We left Georgia twenty-six hours ago, and have been sitting in airplanes and airports ever since.  Add to that an all-nighter that Daddy had stayed awake, trying to get things done at work in preparation for the extended absence.  When we finally got to our beds in the hotel in Beijing, Daddy collapsed and fell asleep very quickly.  No complaints about a hard bed.  Just happy to be off an airplane.  He makes me lie down beside cool waters.

So how does this apply to a yearbook?  Ummm.... it doesn't.  I'm not even going to try to connect these.  But the new yearbooks look good, and Madison was quite happy with them.  And we're all safe and happy as a family together - surely goodness and mercy have followed us.

Tonight we flipped through the pages, and did some more practicing for the upcoming piano recital.  Satisfied with that, we plopped down on the couch for some more video games.  We're back with "Madagascar 3," which she's been enjoying lately.  It involves teamwork, but no flying, no yearbooks, and no Hard Rock Cafe.