Bits and Pieces of Our Days

~ Ted Kooser on Wednesday night. At first we thought Ramona was going to be the only young child there. Eventually two or three others showed up, and a handful of other young people, which cheered me, because how often do you get the chance, when you live in Nebraska, to listen to a former U.S. Poet Laureate? Who's a Nebraskan? Anyway, a little girl in the back row asked, "How many books have you wrote?" Kooser repeated the question with a slight tweak: "How many books have I written?" He taught English for only one year before he took a job in insurance, but there are some things up with which no former English teacher will put.

He was humble, amusing, charming and gracious. A lovely evening.

Did you know he wrote a children's book?

~~~~~

All three of my girls helped with Vacation Bible School last week. Anne-with-an-e and Betsy were the skit leaders and Betsy, aka Patty the Panda, was much loved and much hugged by numerous preschoolers and kindergarteners. She was rewarded with a virus which knocked her down for three days.  She suffers for her art.

~~~~~

Because they know I love him.
Because they know that I know what it is to have been dead and to be Alive Again.
Because they ripped a piece of paper off scratch pad that was in Anne-with-an-e's purse and got in line for autographs after the Matt Maher concert:

Why do I love my kids?

Because.

~~~~~