Today, I wore black.

Every day, on my way to work, I pass by a make-shift memorial on the side of the road about half way through a curve. It is just south of Belmont on River Road and is set back a bit into the woods. There is an obvious gap in the forest there which leads me to believe some vehicle crashed through and tore open a hole in the forest. There are flowers and a statue of the Virgin Mary, and candles and a few other nick-nacks that I am, usually, driving be too fast to identify. My best guess is that there was a car accident there and that someone died in way that was tragic, possibly being hit by a drunk driver. From time to time, however, I have noticed that the flowers are sometimes fresh and that things that get moved or taken away are replaced, but I've never seen anyone there until today. This morning, as I drove by, I saw a car parked on the shoulder near the site and a woman kneeling with her head bowed at the foot of the small statue. I don't know why, but I felt very strongly when I saw that scene. Not sure what the emotion was, but I was moved.

I am also dressed for the occasion, I'm in all black today. We have a "Faculty Fun Night" this evening at work and my team for the activity is dressing in all black, we're badass like that (the attire goes along with our team theme, it's not like an emo look or anything so don't worry that I'm turning into an eighth grader or anything). Either way, the whole scene was somber, yet surprisingly uplifting in a way. Just the fact that this woman obviously visits this site regularly to remember the person who (I assume) she lost there, would mean a lot to me.

Anyway, Happy Friday.

"That's so Metal/Cute?" - Child Moment of the day

Caleb (thanks for reading my blog and not stabbing me in the eyeballs, even if it makes you want to) replied to my previous post with:

Speaking of salty, the two later ended up playing a game (in which the older, louder one was constantly cheating) that involved trying to roll a "Knex" wheel past each other. As you may remember from your days as a young boy, the Knex wheels are just shy of a hockey puck in the way of weight and density. The game of course ended up with the younger child getting hit in the face with the wheel and crying. So I sat him down next to me and as we chatted and he calmed down he was licking the tears that were rolling down his face. I asked him why he was drinking his own tears; he said he liked the taste. That's so metal/cute.

Adorable/awkward/hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day...

An argument just erupted between a boy with a serious speech impediment and a very sweet girl who was trying to convince him that her younger friend was very smart for his age. The argument, as is usually the case in situations like this, went quickly to what level of math they were in (only after a short stop in "well if you're so smart, kid, what is 3x/19 + 5 = 16" land). As it turns out this kid who is in 2nd grade is doing pre-algebra (I think I was doing this in maybe 6th grade). Anyway, little 2nd grade boy seems to have it, even though the older one is doing algebra. This is the kind of thing I see all the time. I remember getting into it with other kids over who was smarter, but it wasn't usually about who was doing more advanced math, it was more like who could do math.