I wasn’t feeling that well today, but that just made me think that getting out of the house would be even better for me. So Lea and I grabbed Mia and Willow and walked down to the lake. The lake isn’t far from our apartment, probably a few hundred yards at most. Willow rode her bike, Mia skated, and Lea and I walked. It was an overcast Fall type day, but was still nice.

In this photo Mia is getting a ride from Lea. Part of the walk back included her riding on my shoulders, as well. This is the downside to having a five year old who loves to ride her skates and run down to a lake–at some point she gets too tired to return. So Lea and I do our best to give her a break.

So it was 18 years ago today when Lea and I married in forest glade surrounded by beautiful green trees, wildflowers, and the bluest sky you can imagine. Okay, that’s not true. We actually got married in a hotel meeting room, but it really couldn’t have been any better because I didn’t give a shit about anything other than the woman across from me, and she was radiant.

I’m not sure how we managed to find each other, but we’re best friends in every sense of the word: we share opinions on politics, religion, how to raise and discipline children, movies, TV, and practically everything else. I read the books she buys; she reads the books I buy. We love to spend our time in the same way, and we laugh at the same things.

We spend more time together than any couple I know, and I still find her exhilerating and fun. She’s clearly made me a better person, and I like to think I’ve made her better, as well.

All I know is that being married to Lea for 18 years is not nearly enough. Not by a long shot. We have a lot of adventures and fun ahead of us, and I sure am looking forward to them.

My daughters were performing in a dance recital over the weekend, and the night before they had a dress rehearsal. After the rehearsal, I took the ballet shoes of my two oldest, Zoe and Willow, in my hand so that they could get dressed to head home. It was a frantic move to the car with three girls in ballet outfits, so I remember dropping the ballet shoes in a dance bag for safekeeping.

Fast forward to the next night. We are in a rush to head to the recital and as we are gathering the last few items, Lea asks me, “Where are the ballet shoes?” I answered, “I don’t know. I remember putting them in a ballet bag.” We looked in the ballet bag, Lea’s purse, Zoe’s purse, and just about every other spot in our apartment. We couldn’t find them anywhere. I was extremely sad and said, “I must have put them in someone else’s bag!”

At our wits end and with nerves frayed, we headed to the recital with no shoes for Zoe and Willow. As soon as I sat down, I closed my eyes and put my hand on my head, concentrating intently. I pored over every moment of the previous night, rewinding the scene over and over again. I pictured myself carrying Lea’s coffee in one hand and the shoes in the other. I remembered conversations. I went over the trip home. I literally spent 20 minutes doing nothing but plumbing the depths of my memory.

In the end I pulled out two key elements. I remembered taking the four shoes and pressing them together in a pile in my left hand, and I remembered sliding them into a bag. Mia’s portion of the recital started, and I put my memory exercise to the side.

And then… and then… out of the blue I pictured it with crystal clarity. I slid the shoes into the bag that contained the Capezio tights we had bought earlier in the day. It WAS a dance bag, but it wasn’t the dance bag. I turned to Lea and excitedly said, “I remember where I put the shoes! I put them in with the Capezio boxes.”

I was excited until Lea replied, “I threw that bag out. That was garbage! Those were just the boxes the tights came in.” To make matters worse, I had taken the garbage outside to be picked up!

I hurried back to the apartment, found the shoes, and returned in time for the recital.

As I told Lea later, I was absolutely right. I had remembered correctly–I had placed the shoes in a dance bag. It just wasn’t the right dance bag!

Lea and I have been looking hard for the next Harry Potter. We both immensely enjoyed the series, and we’ve been trying to find a writer and series that can approach the quality of writing and storytelling in Harry Potter. The latest attempt was Garth Nix’s Mister Monday, and his Keys To The Kingdom series. Lea and I were both sold on the first chapter, which is marvelous. Unfortunately, the book falls quite a bit from that height as you continue reading.

The prose doesn’t have the sparkle of Rowling, although it doesn’t necessarily get in the way. When you have prose that is more utilitarian, it needs to have a utility–moving the story along at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, the story here was not very compelling and about as pedestrian as the prose. Reading novel after novel like this makes me all the more impressed with Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose pure storytelling brava was enough to get past all of his limitations as a stylist.

Anyway, we’re still looking for the next Harry Potter and would welcome any and all recommendations.

So I’m in the process of uploading all of our family videos into our new player. (Click on the video link at the top to see them and chart my progress). One of the videos I uploaded today is this one, which always brings a smile to my face. It’s when our family went to the Dallas Zoo and went to the stingray exhibit. You could pet the stingrays, and Lea absolutely loved it. At the beginning of this video Lea gets splashed by one. Her reaction is great.