The haircut I’m still trying to decide if I like or not. The retiring of our round kitchen table that comfortably sat 4 and has been way crowded with 6 for the last 2 1/2 years. My frustration with the mounds of socks in the laundry now that Croc and flip flops season has ended. Dreams for fall and all things pumpkin.

I’ve been thinking over the last couple days what to post following my previous post my new friend courageously shared here. All that may have been my next post just didn’t seem appropriate or honoring or respectful.

What I will say is that I appreciate how deeply so many interacted with her words and the all that those words mean beyond her own words. Her post was read, folks. Like nearly 1,000 times. And, though the comments here weren’t many, there were quite a few circulating around about it. And, all that is good. And, writing here about how her words challenged so many to consider things more deeply or in a new way, well, that’s the most honoring segway post I can imagine really.

So, instead of writing about haircuts, tables, and cool fall nights like tonight–while those posts may come at some point–I’ll simply leave you with a couple snapshots from today.

The first day of Lydia’s first year Chinese school and the first day of Ashlyn’s third year of Chinese school. It’s a sister thing now.

My intentions of getting adorable pictures of the wee ones in their Chinese preschool class were thwarted by a wee one who was mad because she thought her big sister would actually be in that preschool class with her.

And, there it is. My segway.

The child who usually has no interest at all in back-to-school related mail perked up a bit at the invitation with his name on it to become a safety. You would have thought an owl delivered it.

Official training was yesterday. And, though he was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t exactly what he was picturing (he had imagined training on fighting an evil robot by jumping over desks and pushing the teacher aside to safety), he was pretty pumped to already get put to work at new student orientation yesterday.

Check this man, out, ya’ll.

1. Put all young wizards who are privy to spilling, grabbing, drinking incomplete potions, and screaming to bed. This step cannot be overlooked.

2. Allow more mature wizards (clothed in hooded capes and with wands by their side) to choose flavored magic crystals (aka. unsweetened drink mix, in our case blue raspberry and cherry).

3. Mix those crystals with highly secretive and potent crushed diamonds (aka. sugar) and stir gently together.