Through a Glass, Darkly

What you really need to know about yesterday’s trip to Rock Hill is that Mike is so hardcore about hide-and-seek that he hid in a Rubbermaid container. From his five-year-old nephew (and his twenty-six-year-old wife). When I was hiding from the five-year-old, I hid behind a tree. And I planned to let him catch me. I find Mike’s hide-and-seek playing to be not very jolly. He made it to base, though, so it worked out for him. Maybe this is one of those birth order things - Mike is the youngest in his family, so he has to play extra-hard to win, while I am the oldest and learned that I am supposed to let the kiddies have a fair shot. (Anyone who knows how competitive I can get is snorting at that theory. But, actually, now that I think about it, I have been known to intentionally answer Trivial Pursuit questions wrong when I feel I’ve gotten too many pieces in a row.)

The trip also included Star Wars toys (our nephew whispered to his mother, who said, “Yes, Aunt Kari likes Star Wars a lot, so I am sure she wants to see your toys”), pizza, two cakes, a new bike, lots of piratey things, discussion of Kari’s book club (”Are you like Oprah? Do your books have a big K on the front?”), and many children. Good times.

I am in the last chapter of Freakonomics, and I have to say that it was a thorougly enjoyable read. Mike took it at one point and read about 20 pages while I was doing dishes yesterday, and I wouldn’t have thought that he would be interested in it (I was, after all, an economics major), but we had a good discussion about the stuff he read regarding teaching, test scores, and No Child Left Behind.

Overall, we had a nice trip yesterday (even though I hated missing Susan’s festivities) and a good (but tiring) weekend.