Five for Friday: accidents, gratitude, the Loh-Down, time travel, and some more flags

Five unexpected things that happened this week:

 

1.  My youngest son's potty accident as we were walking out the door to school this morning. That may not seem like a big deal (and really, isn't; he's 4), except that our school mornings are like a finely-oiled military machine. From 6am to our 7.24am departure, all four of us have jobs and every job is important; even if the job is "eating bananas." And from 7.24am until drop-off #2 forty miles away  at 9am, there's not much room for flexibility. Coming back to the apartment for a quick change threw me off. I ended up leaving a couple of important things inside in the ensuing costume reconstitution. Ultimately, not a big deal, just a slice of life item.

2.  The help I was able to give a friend in need this morning. Refreshing! It's hard to ask for help; it would have been hard for me if the roles had been reversed (and believe me, tomorrow they could be). In that human moment , I was grateful for being in the right place at the right time.

3.  Being overcome by Sandra Tsing Loh's article in The Atlantic (my original post here). The more I think about it, the more it feels like no one else can understand exactly what Loh's writing about except me. I don't like article's sub-headline ("The author is ending her marriage. Isn't it about time you did the same?"), but the realizations she presents on her own identity, parenting, and other people's marriages, are markedly similar to ones I have had over the last two years.

4. My oldest son's new story idea. It's about an orphan who lives in or near a cemetery and his three companions spread around the globe who are enlisted in an ancient struggle to save the world. It involves elemental powers, time travel with keys, and a gristled old Asian sensai who directs the action. Killer stuff.

5. Picking up a reader each from Guatemala and New Zealand. Again, I am blissfully ignorant about how these counter statistics  work, but don't think I don't geek on that kind of connectivity.