Ok, this guy. Totally crazy. Always has been. I KNOW HIM! There is some- I don’t know- festival of sorts out in Nevada called Burning Man. A Woodstock of sorts for this generation. Anyway, at the end of the "festival" they burn this big man of wood. Well, our friend Paul Addis pictured here in his MUG SHOT, decided this year that he would burn it early. So he did. Like 4 days before it was supposed to be burned.  He is now facing felony arson charges and the anger or praise of lots of Burning Man followers. Nuts. And all over the news in San Fransico where he lives. If you are interested in the real news story or to read some interviews with him, just google his name.

How do I know him, you ask? Well, I went to college with him at University of Miami and he happened to be married to one of my best friends for a while. I was maid of honor at their wedding! They have been divorced for quite a while, thank god. He has always had a few screws loose (probably not loose, just completely missing) but to hear that he went this far off the deep end- just crazy and a little sad. Smart guy. Nice guy. Guy with lots of problems. We did have our fun though, watching Heathers a zillion times and quoting every line. Going dancing at the Kitchen Club in Miami Beach (before South Beach was cool and trendy- when it was gross and scary)every weekend. Yelling at "butch" out the window of my apartment. Going to all you can eat sushi at Taisho in Coral Gables with Cat and Riley and the whole crew. Lots of fun. Bet his trial isn’t going to be so fun….I just hope he is okay. Wow.

and I am so sad about that. Well, mostly sad. The big boys definitely need some structure back in their days and so do I. A little school is probably good now after them being home with me all day every day this summer. But, I will REALLY miss the getting up whenever, not having to rush to be anywhere at a particular time, eating whenever, going to be really late. And the not preparing. During the school year, I felt like I spent all my time PREPARING. Preparing breakfast, preparing the backpacks and lunches, preparing for them coming home from school, preparing dinner, preparing for afterschool activities-making sure they have their homework done and materials ready for the activity, preparing for bed, preparing their clothes for the next day. Just always PREPARING for the next thing. Not being in the moment. Just moving on to the next thing.

There was no preparing this summer and it was great. The beach was particularly nice this summer (no seaweedy days, no jellyfish days) and we really sucked the life out of the last few days there. Staying really late, eating a delicious dinner Nelson brought down for us, eating at the Osprey Deck and watching the sun set the last night there. Fantastic.

Timmy thoroughly enjoyed his summer (although he kept asking "I go Timmy’s school?" almost everyday) and made it over some significant hurdles this summer…like being afraid of falling thru the half-inch cracks between the boards on the boardwalk, like going in the ocean a little and not being afraid, and swimming all alone in the big pool (with the swimmy vest) and going underwater. Big stuff. And the big boys got a little more freedom this summer…walking to the rocks alone, going to the pool with their friends, going up for hourlong baseball games. It was all good. For all of us. I miss it already.

Jack FINALLY lost that top front tooth. That thing has been hanging on by a thread for the last week or so. It had been pretty loose before, but then after an unfortunate boogie boarding mishap it became REALLY loose. John tried his dental floss trick to get it out, but that didn’t do it. I really wanted it out before the first day of school just in case it was bloody (which would totally freak Jack out and possibly cause tears during the first day) and messy. So after me wiggling the hell out of it all day at the beach and "hocking" Jack all day that we should just pull it out, I ended up discussing it with Uncle Joe A. As it happens, Uncle Joe is apparently an expert tooth remover- in addition to being a better lifeguard than the real lifeguards at the beach, a master plumber (that’s his real life job), a gormet chef, a fireman, and Malibu Barbie Joe- so after much convincing, Jack allowed Joe to pull it. Jack was standing there just waiting for the pain and as he was bracing himself, Joe was already showing Jack his tooth! Easy peasy.

So here he is with his big hole where there should be a tooth. The other front one is pretty loose too. I am just hoping he has John’s nice straight teeth, instead of mine. We’ll just wait and see…