Gratitudinous

Things I'm thankful for today:

1. My brother Paul and his wife Betty, who are moving across the country to Boston for him to start law school and stopped in Austin for the weekend with us. Hooray! Except that he doesn't have any brand new book recommendations for me. Boo. But they did indulge me in a game of Quiddler
last night. Yea!

2. Our friend Sam, who has loaned us his Wii
to get us through these months of summer cabin fever. I've been on the fence about the Wii for a long time. But we're sticking to the active games (Wii Sports, Active Life Outdoor Challenge
), all working up a sweat, doing it together, and having a lot of fun. It's hard to think of something else we could do indoors that draws everyone together with such enthusiasm -- last night, for example, we had teams of two cooperating on games that everyone else yelling "JUMP!" and "LEAN!"

3. My husband, who is taking apart our entire dryer in order to fix that highly irritating squeaky sound that makes me want to run out into oncoming traffic when I hear it for more than thirty seconds. 'Tis the story of me and repetitive noises. High strung much, wifey?

4. Ten minutes peace yesterday afternoon in which I got to lie on the couch and read Wright 3, sequel to the delightful Chasing Vermeer, listening to the happy sounds of cherubic three year olds build a marble run. (Vaughn: "Caroline, can I have that long ramp piece, please?" Caroline: "Yes, of course!")

5. Ian's ADHD therapist, who told me yesterday that I was a great parent. Which meant I had to try really really hard not to cry. (Parenting, as you know, is not EXACTLY the kind of job that entails a ton of external validation, performance-based bonuses, or regular pats on the back. There's very little by way of short-term built-in assessment, and even when your kids excel at something or act particularly pleasant, you can't necessarily take credit.) When someone tells you that, and they know what they're talking about, and they're being sincere, they could, in the next breath, suggest a trek to the North Pole and you'd start calling REI for sponsorships. No kidding.