Because life is good

As I left my office today for the Tuesday walk home, a few drops of rain were beginning to fall, and the world smelled heavenly. Frau Magister recently posted, among other things, that her favorite smell was rain in the desert. Our desert here isn't quite as arid as the desert that she was referring to, but my son will still grow up knowing what she means. That is good. And suddenly I had an overwhelming feeling that Life is good. It is. Here are two reasons why.

I love my job. Last week's conference was held in an exotic location: the red deserts of the southwestern United States. We left the afternoons free for participants to enjoy the surroundings. However, I spent each afternoon in the front of the empty conference room, pen in hand, talking research with friends and colleagues at the whiteboard. As I realized that because of these discussions, I would not get to enjoy the red desert, I felt a little sad. And then I thought through the discussions of the day, and the work we had accomplished, and the sadness left. I realized I would rather talk research all afternoon. It was fun. I really love my job.

Jonathan is set for school next year. He has been admitted to a French immersion first grade class at a public school less than a mile from our house. This school has school lunches, cool after school programs, and he'll be mastering French as well as reading and writing and arithmetic. We have wanted him to start learning any foreign language since we were in England, and he picked up all sorts of different accents easily. He should learn languages while his brain still lets him do that sort of thing. Plus, it's first grade. So he'll be with other children as tall as he is, at the same (or higher) academic level as he is, and he'll be stretched. And it's a new program, so he won't be the only new kid in the class. We're excited about it.

So life is good. We hope it stays that way.