It's a "jump to conclusions" mat!

OK, not really. You got me. But damn, I love "Office Space"!

Just now Liel and I were looking at the birthday card the Tolls sent her, which has a picture of a dog on the front, and says "celebrate like someone forgot to lock the gate" on the inside. I read the words to Liel and she closed the card and looked at the front again.

"There's a dog on it", she said thoughtfully, "and his people forgot to lock the gate".

We have neither a dog nor a gate (or even a fence), so I was surprised she seemed to get the joke. "That's right", I said,"and what's the dog going to do?"

"Run around!", she said enthusiastically. So I guess she got the joke after all! Clearly I need to give the girl more credit.

Yesterday afternoon Zion was asking about our Dia de los Muertos alter, which we notably forgot to set up this year. "Who do we love that is dead?", he asked.

"Well," I said, "My grandpa, G.G.'s husband. He died when I was a little girl. And my great-grandpa, up there in that picture. You're named after him. And grandpa's brother- Uncle Kenny is named after him".

"How did Grampa's brother die?", Zion asked.

"In a motorcycle accident", I said.

"What happened with the motorcycle?", Zion wanted to know.

"I'm not sure", I said. "It was a long time ago, before I was born and I don't remember. If you want to know we can ask Grampa".

"But...will that make Grampa sad?", Zion wondered.

"It's very nice that you are concerned about Grampa", I said, "but I don't think it will make him sad".

"Because I would not want to make Grampa sad", said Zion.

And here I was, typing up this heartwarming story about how Zion is developing empathy and I hear crying downstairs. Zion and his friend J were fighting bad guys and Zion swung something too near to J and caught him on the side of the face. You win some you lose some, I guess...