Scenes from a Draining Week

Monday. Desperately searching for kids' underwear & sneakers at Fred Meyer at 8 pm on a school night, turned around to find that Simon had not followed me and Josie from the shoe aisle to Children's Clothes, and was in fact nowhere to be seen. Not worried, exactly, but seriously looking -- calling his name, asking other customers if they'd seen him. Eventually flagged down an employee with a walkie-talkie, who made an announcement over the intercom: "Attention, Child Find. Seven-year-old boy, green pants, blue shirt, dark hair, answers to the name of Simon." Whereupon Simon, who was waiting patiently in the check-out line planning to turn himself in when he got up to the counter, piped up and told the cashier "Um, I think that's me." "Oh!" she said, before informing our walkie-talkie friend, who informed us in turn that our boy was waiting up front. When we appeared, his studiously blasé facade crumpled into freaked-out weeping, and we had to spend ten minutes or so putting him back together, before sheepishly paying for our sneakers and slinking out to the car. Never did find the underwear.

Tuesday. Accompanied a group of New School 6th graders on a field trip to a Vietnamese Buddhist Temple (they are studying World Religion in the Rainier Valley & the historical society is along for the ride). A nondescript house off Holly Street turns out to be the gateway to an elaborate temple with golden lions, giant gongs, rotating lighted prayer towers, monks and nuns with shaved heads and grey robes, and a gorgeous statue-filled garden that goes on forever. The head monk chants a special prayer for the kids: that they will be healthy, that they will be lucky, and that they will be smart. Not sure what more you'd need to add to that. As we take our leave, the adults in the party are each presented with a huge pink dahlia, which we carry back to school with us on the #7 bus. Nota Bene: It turns out that everybody on the #7 smiles at you when you are carrying a huge pink dahlia.

Wednesday. Fifth anniversary party for WorldChanging, Alex Steffen's fabulous web site. We checked in at the door and were issued name tags on which we were asked to write down "the idea or solution you are most passionate about." Spent the next two hours roaming rooms full of fascinating people, each one helpfully labeled with the phrase most likely to get them talking about something intriguing. Our favorites: Hexayurts & Complimentary Currency. Couldn't pull ourselves away to go get real dinner, so sustained ourselves on martinis, crackers & cheese, and a selection of red grapes, black olives, and chocolate-covered almonds that became increasingly difficult to distinguish from each other as the evening wore on.

Thursday something of a blur (I vaguely remember eating grilled cheese sandwiches while catching the opening of the Palin-Biden debate in between soccer practice & Curriculum Night); Friday heading the same way... Hope y'all are getting a little more sleep than we are!