It Takes Eleven Dollars To Make It Rain

Not to start on a bad note, since the rest of this post won't go that direction at all, but I thought I'd update on Peter's status. He did not make it through the afternoon. Summer heat and broken wing do not go well together.. But at least we tried to make his last hours comfortable. (I really didn't want him to be tortured by neighborhood cats.)

I had a fantastic night with my boys tonight. We went out for dinner like we usually do once a week. I needed something at Walmart so we went there and they bought sparklers for us to play with. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but I generally go along with their plans, so we went back to my house to play.

George mused that he wished we had a camera, so I ran inside and got mine, switching it to "Fireworks" setting, hoping that would capture some of the movement. And it did! We used the sparklers to create great pictures like this, some random, some spelling out words, initials, or sorority letters, and some with pictures (we were quite successful at an umbrella, though we lacked $11).

We spent the night that way, playing and having fun and talking. I even got to ride a motorcycle for the first time! (Just don't tell my mother.) It was thrilling! We didn't get past 21 miles an hour, but I loved it.

I love nights with the boys, especially after many days at home with just family. The boys are a different kind of family, and a great and necessary one.

We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own. - Ben Sweetland