I got the privilege of enjoying a 6th grade band concert this week. I'll be honest, I don't miss band concerts, although its better now that I don't have to be on the stage.

These kids that I watched were so confident, so proud. The clarinet players especially, with their puffy cheeks and frequent squeaking. (Did my clarinet squeak that much in sixth grade?) Watching them made me think of my days as seventh chair in beginning band on up through pep band.

You know, parents, you used to tell me that someday I would be glad for all that time you made me spend in pep band. I'm still waiting for that day. But I do have to say that I am thankful for my fellow clarinet player who sat next to me all those years. Jami, thank you for playing well enough to cover up my squeaking. And thank you for always taking the hard part. And for sitting closer to the front of the stage (or bleachers) so I could hide. It would not have been the same without you.

I am so glad that those days are over.

44 days until my bufday.

You know I was cute back then. Admit it. Back when I couldn’t say my R’s.

(And for the record: I did correctly pronounce the word “richer” in my vows, no matter what Ryan says. I have been grown out of that little habit for at least 15 years).

I just thought that you should all be reminded that the big day is coming. So you can be prepared.

Although, I do have to share the special day with my mom-in-law for the first time. Maybe the two of us will have to go on a special birthday outing someday, like to Paris. July 1 is pretty significant, after all.

We've been noticing quite a few starry-eyed pairs of Canadian geese taking longs walks in the evening lately. And now it seems that new families are arriving daily.

I have decided to adopt one darling little baby goose--gosling, I guess. He was so fluffy and yellow and cuddly. However, after approaching him and his doting parents, I found that Mom and Dad think that its best if I settle with being his god-mother. At least, that's what I gathered from their long pointy tongues pointing out of their beaks as they hissed at me.

Unfortunately, since so many of his cousins have arrived, its a bit difficult to differentiate my darling god-child-goose from so many other fluffy waddling creatures. But I'm sure that he'll remember me.

Its officially summertime for Ryan this week, and it feels like August outside. Now our daily activities do not include reading contracts, reviewing notecards, or making outlines, thank goodness.

Instead we are catching up on our vitamin D (and now nursing our sunburns), as well as catching up on the missed episodes or our favorite shows.

Today we drove downtown humming, "Having fun isn't hard, if you've got a library card" (Thank you PBS for instilling great values into our childhood), and came home with a stack of new books to read. Which was just in time for me, because I'm just finishing the russian philosophy book that Ryan gave me in September and he had plans of trying to get me to read another one.

And now that it is summer, everyone is officially invited to come visit us.