Two things I want to show you; long car trip finally over

We left our home at 10:30 this morning and brought our suitcases up the North Carolina house stairs at 8:15 tonight. Mother of bizness- that is too long in a car.

Thank goodness for the Stuart Gibbs book on tape we had (Space Case; very enjoyable, even for adults) , iPads, and that random Target we found somewhere in Virginia. Horrible traffic on 95S and I had the worst case of motion sickness I've had in ages. Target provided me Dramamine which knocked me out but did cure the vomitous nausea. 

In any case, we are here now, the boys are tucked in, the rest of T's family arrives tomorrow, and our fourth -fifth?- annual beach week has commenced. 

Such a pretty evening

I read this BuzzFeed list of Scottish tweets back to Donald Trump post Brexit and laughed so hard, for so long that I nearly passed out. As such, I feel it would be terribly remiss of me not to share in case you haven't seen it and to urge you to read and snort uproariously one or eleven times. 

I mean, "@realDonaldTrump SCOTLAND VOTED TO STAY, YOU WITLESS FUCKING COCKSPLAT."? Hilarious!

Secondly, during today's interminable drive, we also listened to a great NPR podcast from Invisibilia. Called The New Norm, the show was about invisible emotional structures that dictate and/or influence individual behaviors in public. 

Two stories were embedded in the overall feature: one about opening the first McDonald's in Moscow and how difficult it was to convince the employees to adopt the very American greet-with-a-smile customer service; and the other, the one to which I want to draw your attention, about one rig foreman's attempt to change the rigidly Southern-masculine personas Louisiana and Mississippi oilmen often constrict themselves by. FASCINATING! Do yourself a favor, and listen to this. 

When your child meets a hero, or For the love of books

Much to my delight, Jack is an avid, voracious reader. Reading came to him easily, so he's been at this for a while now, and I consider it a great gift that curling up with a book remains one of his most beloved pastimes. 

He relishes the feel of paper and the weight of a bound work -preferably hard cover- in hand. He enjoys series and wants to have every volume of his favorites: Harry Potter; Big Nate; everything Stuart Gibbs has thus far written. 

I try not to give the boys too many random gifts, but only rarely can I turn down a request for a new book "for my library, Mom." And I love me a full set.

In these ways, Jack is most definitely my son.

Last night, Stuart Gibbs was scheduled to give a presentation at the library near us, and today, to visit and speak with the kids at Jack's school. Several months ago, I got a sitter for Ol and planned on last night being a Mom and Jack date so that I could see him meet a hero for the first time.

To prep J, I said, "you know, every author presentation is different. Some are formal and some aren't. Some will sign all your books and some limit you to one. Some will disappoint you and others will be just what you imagined."

Last night was perfect. We snarfed pizza (dinner) in the car and arrived to the event an hour early. We bought three additional books (well, I bought two and J one), got front-row seats, J's best friend sat next to him, J asked multiple questions and he got all six books signed plus one for a friend who couldn't be there. We also got a photo.

Stuart and Jack, and all the books

Once home, Jack's feet continued to dance above the clouds with glee. I finally gave him a melatonin, kissed him goodnight and wished him luck getting to sleep: I was going to bed immediately. 

Today at school, Stuart remembered J and said "hi, Jack." I'm not sure life gets better. As it turned out, today was my library volunteer day, and Stuart and I got to hang for fifteen minutes. "I can't believe you got there an hour early," he said, smiling.

"It's not every day you get to take your child to see a hero for the first time," I replied.

I'll remember it always