Wong

So the early pick-up process is one of those things I only have to do twice a week, but Fridays it's especially interesting.  I have to actually arrive at the school somewhere around 3pm, and by then there's a line of about thirty-two cars in front of me, soon to be another hundred or more afterwards lining up in both directions down Jot-em-Down Road up over the hill, around the corner and then down the road.  In both directions.  It's a lot of traffic at dismissal time.  So you hunker down in the car line, too hot to turn the cars off though.  I'm typing this up in the car line now, or sometimes I type up a skit for Sunday if I'm feeling stressed about deadlines.  Relaxing days see me bringing along a book, which I have in the car here.  The latest book I'm reading is "Lincoln's Last Trial," which is a fascinating look at Lincoln's legal career before becoming the President we all know and love.  It's been a good read, as lately I've been doing a lot of historical research just because it interests me suddenly.  Perhaps it's what our government used to be or where it's come from.   Yes, there are imperfections then as there are now, and it's all too complex to isolate this one thing or that.  Though there are deeply flawed people now as there are then, not everyone is a villain.  And of course not everyone is the hero that you think either.  But surprisingly, many of the people I revere as national heroes have retained or even strengthened their status in my eyes after looking more closely at their lives.  Again, no one is perfect of course.  Anyway, Lincoln has been a good read.

Tonight we were back at our classes, and I got to watch Maddie in her leadership class and then her black belt class.  She was training with her sword again, her least favorite weapon - but she's doing really well with it.  They're doing leg sweeps and spin kicks, and one more thing that Maddie really likes doing:  combat weapon sparring.  She had a blast with that, and never seems to get tired of it.  She's really good at it too, perhaps because of her instincts with defense.  Afterwards, Maddie was in the specialized class, and once again looking at some ways to deal with wrist holds, practicing with Mrs. Hardin there, an assistant instructor that she enjoys spending time with.  

We got home tonight, and there we had a wonderful dinner together.  Mom has made this gluten-free chicken that is so good.  I said our dinner was absolutely amazing, and Maddie told me I say that all the time.  To which I told her, "That's because it always is amazing!"

We were watching a few episodes of this new "Groot" show tonight, some mini-episodes that feature the baby Groot character from Guardians of the Galaxy.  They were fun, and there's one that had us all cracking up at the end, because we all have that wicked sense of humor I suppose!

The Mysterious Benedict Society seems to have a great plan to get out of their prison, and this book is nearly coming to an end.  I think about three or four days and we'll be done, but this has been a series we've enjoyed a lot.  We've got one or two more books after this, I think, but it's certainly been a great series to read.  We said our prayers after that, and of course there is still the entourage to bring back and forth down the hallway to hear the story reading.  Putnam is there, as is Chuck the Groundhog.  Maddie has a few different plush boba tea friends, and there's this cute round tiger she picked up at EPCOT.  She was not sure of a name and had asked me, and I just blurted out, "Wong."  And so that's how Wong got his name.  She tells me to be sure that Chuck, Putnam and Wong make it out of story time and down the hall to her room for bedtime, and then after everyone is tucked in, it's time to remind each other how much we love each other and how much I smell bad.  I wouldn't have it any other way!