...

...

Questions

Anyone (and I mean anyone) who has interacted with a young child has heard the question "Why?" about a ga-zillion times.  "Ok, put you're shoes on!" "Why?" "Because we're going to the store." "Why?" Because we need to get some food. Why? Because we have to eat. Why? Because our bodies need food to stay alive. Why? Because our cells need the energy in the food to function. Why? Um.. because God made it that way!

[Ok, I love you, buh-bye!]

Certainly the preponderance of questions from little ones can be wearying for even the most patient grown-up. But what is it about little kids that is so inquisitive?  Is it merely that they are so young and don't know as much as we, the enlightened adults, do?  Have they simply not asked the right number of questions which gets them to a point when they don't ask "why" anymore?  Or, rather, is it because as they get older, much of the questioning becomes internal and they answer the "why" themselves?

If we think about it, aren't grownups just as inquisitive as little kids? See, I don't think the questions stop as you grow up and get smarter.  I don't think there's a limit to the questions. The questions change, certainly.  Theoretically, after the kid learns about food and digestion and feeding the cells, he won't ask why we need food to eat.

But what about all the other questions that arise from our little dialogue above? What are cells? What are they made of? What do they do? Why did God make it so? Why don't we have any food in the house? Why do I have to put my shoes on if we're going outside? Why is there such a thing as a store? What's inside it? Why do I have to ride in the cart? Can I have a balloon?

Questions never end.  In fact, the process of questioning is so important that people say there's something wrong if someone doesn't ask questions, that we're not using our intellect.  I think they're right.  If we don't ask questions about our experience, how can we possibly form any sound ideas about anything?

Ah, but there's the rub. With questioning comes the responsibility of judgment.  If I question and understand, and still refuse to judge, I am lying to myself and deliberately ignoring my duty as a know-er.  When children ask questions--and when those questions are answered--we are forming their conscience from a young age.  We are teaching them to reason, to think, to wonder, and to understand.

Sometimes, their questions can make us uncomfortable.  Oftentimes, their questions give us pause and we must reconsider our own understanding or worldview.  But this is good for us too. Grownups can get lazy in their questioning process. [I know--I'm quite lazy myself.]  I sometimes ignore certain questions simmering in the back of my mind because I'm afraid of what the answer might be.  Kids aren't afraid of questions. They can ask questions all day, about anything, and remain happy as a clam, processing things right down to the moment they fall asleep, letting their dreams continue their journey of exploration.  Kids just want to know. Everything. They want to know what's true, what has happened, what will happen, and what we are to do now.

Shouldn't we all want to know those things? Shouldn't we want to know everything about everything?

A Night Before Christmas

We had some friends over for dinner last night, a night before Christmas, and one more chance to spend some quality time with awesome people.  I made fig and olive roast chicken, apple sausage stuffing, and a spinach salad.  For dessert, I made a quick "dump and stir" chocolate cake, which was a big hit with the ice cream Kendra brought!  

We did, of course, have plenty of fine and tasty beverages, which we shared and sampled throughout the night.  

I have to admit, I've been very happy with the new arrangement of our living room--it lends itself much better to mingling and socializing without cutting off groups of people.  And because we have the table out of the kitchen now (a smaller butcher block prep cart in its place), there's even room for the inevitable friends who always seem to congregate in the kitchen :) Obviously, they think that's "where it's at." 

Finally, after much catching-up, conversation, and general good cheer, we settled down to play paper charades.  Anyone interested in the rules?  My sides hurt again from laughing so hard! What a great game for a fun group of friends :) 

Enjoy the pictures, folks!

A Night Before Christmas

Musings of a Law Student's Wife

[I don't think I'm going to change the description of my blog (from "musings of a philosopher's wife") just because T's in law school now.  I think he's still a philosopher at heart (and always will be).  But I wanted to put "on the record" my initial thoughts after attending my first law school event.]

Last night T and I went to a BBQ for the environmental law group on campus.  We met several professors, I met several of T's classmates, and we ate tasty burgers :) A very pleasant evening (if a little chilly).

When we arrived (a little late, I'm afraid, because I just had to do my exercises before picking up T) Prof. Platter (the host of the evening; who teaches T's property class) began introducing several of the professors in attendance, all of whom are interested in environmental law issues.  The funniest one, I have to admit, was the animal law professor.  As she was speaking, the dog-in-residence came bounding out of the house, right in the middle of the yard where we were all gathered, speak-toy in mouth, and proceeded to wrestle with the toy, squeaking the rest of the way through the professor's little speech.  Too funny :)

All in all, I really did have a good time. T's classmates (whom I met) are engaging and fun to be around. I was a little worried they'd only talk about law stuff.  [At least at philosophy department gatherings, I had some ground to stand on (thanks to GU's phil minor!).]  But happily, they talked about all sorts of things and I felt very welcome and it was all very interesting, and sometimes pretty hilarious. :) T has already developed a reputation for "knowing everyone."  That's my boy!

 I'm looking forward to the boat cruise on Saturday evening.  T tells me that there are pockets of students that can get... a little "rowdy" (shall we say), but that there should be lots of fun people who won't feel the need to become intoxicated beyond recall ;)  Those are more my style anyway.

So CHEERS! to law school.  It's going to be an exciting few years, but, as T has always said, "It's us and God, Annie! Let's take on the world!"

And we will :)

Back to School

Ahh, that fresh time of year when every store has a back-to-school-sale! All the incoming students are moving into the neighborhood: oodles of moving trucks and parents and leftover items strewn across the streetscape, and loud parties, once again, late into the night! The mornings are cooler now, though still not cold, and when we wake up early the sun hasn't yet made it into our windows. It brings back memories of grade school when my siblings and I trucked off to school on that first day of class, bemoaning the loss of summer, and longing for the three-day weekends approaching (so we could sleep in). (Of course, in those days, waking up early was a novel experience and we were surprised the sun was up so early, too!) T is very excited about his classes. He's still enjoying his LSAT prep class, which goes through the end of September (the LSAT is in the beginning of October), but he's very excited for all the FUN "candy" courses he'll be taking this semester: philosophy of science, Heidegger, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Trinitarian missions and the human good, Plato's Theatetus, and the Cappadocian fathers. Don't worry--he's only actually taking three of those classes, but he's sitting in on the other three :) Silly husband--because in addition to all his classes this semester, he'll be busybusybusy getting out law school and philosophy PhD program applications! And it's back to school for me, too! Yes. I've finally decided to take advantage of the fact that my husband is at a university. I got the "school bug" several weeks ago and have decided to sit in on two classes this fall. I will be attending Philosophy of JRR Tolkien with Peter Kreeft (and I will be recording the sessions!), and Classical Mythology with Meredith Monagan. Both are awesome professors, and both classes are on Tuesday/Thursday after I get off work. It should be fun! (Also, it should be fun because I don't have to write any final papers or take any tests!) However, these next few months will be pretty busy in the office, too, and I will have to miss probably two weeks of class to cover during the receptionist's vacation (I might be able to get to the Tolkien class as "lunch hour" deal, but we'll see how that flies once I figure out who's able to cover for me). It will be an exciting semester, for sure!

Fr. Spitzer--We love you

Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., the man, the myth, the legend, is resigning from his presidency at Gonzaga University, after a wonderful term of leadership. This is a bit of a tribute to his genius :) If you have any other memorable quotations, please (PLEASE!) add them! "Not only am I getting myself, but I'm getting myself getting myself." "...ultimate Truth, Love, Goodness, Beauty, and Being..." "I have three points." ------ In an essay Spitzer wrote, he quotes Paul Davies' book, God and the New Physics (found here):

If the initial state were chosen at random, it seems exceedingly probable that the big bang would have coughed out black holes rather than dispersed gases. The present arrangement of matter and energy, with matter spread thinly at relatively low density, in the form of stars and gas clouds would, apparently, only result from a very special choice of initial conditions. Roger Penrose has computed the odds against the observed universe appearing by accident, given that a black-hole cosmos is so much more likely on a priori grounds. He estimates a figure of 10^10^30 to one.

To which Spitzer candidly responds:

"I've always admired atheists, they have great faith! Because, the probability of our universe existing by chance is 10^10^30:1. That's a REALLY big number. If you were to write out all the zeros in that number, and all the zeros were the size of a hydrogen atom, our universe would not be BIG enough for that number!"

------ Father Spitzer, we love you!

Philosophers' Wives Support Group (Boston Chapter)

Well, yesterday evening, we had a small dinner party (yes, I know--it's really just an excuse to use my china!) :) Dave and Mandy came over early and hung out a bit before Prof. Byrne and his wife, Joan, came. It was a delightful little gathering, but T, Dave, and their professor are three peas in a pod, as far as philosophy goes. Luckily, though, Mandy and Joan and I were all able to... commiserate? sympathize? roll our eyes together? chuckle knowingly? at how similar our husbands were. It was grand fun. As a philosopher's wife, one never knows when the conversation will suddenly turn from discussions of normal, every-day pleasantries to a metaphysical exposition on the latest lecture her philosopher-husband attended. Now, when you get three of these (Lonerganian) philosophers together, it's an exciting adventure down the "further pertinent questions" lane regarding the "already-out there-now-real" and the "unity-identity-whole" (and don't forget to mention your intentionality and emergent probability!). My favorite part, though, was when Joan, Mandy, and I were all able to share what we say when people ask us, "So, what does your husband do?" Joan: "Oh, he's a teacher." Interlocutor: "High school?" "No." "College?" "Yes." "Well, what does he teach?" *under her breath* "philosophy" "Oh.. interesting." Mandy: "He's getting his master's degree." "Oh, in what?" "Philosophy." "What does he want to do with that?!" "Law School." *relieved* "Oh! Good for him." Me: "He's a philosopher." "Oh." *awkward silence* "But he does lots of other things, too! He wants to get a JD and a PhD and teach somewhere and he has lots of business experience." "Uh huh..." The dinner itself went well, too. We made a yummy beef roast (which, I think, was a tad too rare for most people, but I didn't hear any complaints, so it must have been tolerable) and mashed potatoes, and Dave and Mandy brought salad fixings which were very delicious (field greens with candied walnuts, craisins, goat cheese, and pear vinegarette dressing). Fresh peach crisp and ice cream for dessert with tea and coffee. A fun evening with good friends (and lots of leftovers! yay!).

Smarty Pants

My genius husband got another paper accepted at a conference! (That's why he's a smarty pants--in a good way, though!) The first of his papers that was accepted was for a Lonergan conference in CA at Loyola Marymount. It was great fun to fly out west, leaving behind the dreary, barely-spring of New England for the sun-shiney temperance of Los Angeles! T took me with him for that conference, and my parents drove down to hear his paper. We all stayed at my sister's apartment in Long Beach, which was a little warm, but still tons of fun! I got to go shopping with Momma and V, and Daddy and T went to the conference all weekend, being all geeky with other Lonergan buffs. This paper wouldn't take us to exotic, far-off places, but it's right here in Boston this November. It's the North Eastern Political Science annual conference and, apparently, it's fairly affluent--there are lots and lots of presenters, and prizes for the best papers. The only small trouble is that T still needs to write the paper (technically, it was just his proposal which was accepted--essentially the first page of his paper). So, hopefully he gets that written soon! :D See? T's always enjoyed reading this to anyone who will listen! This is Giulia and Michael, my sisters' kids.

ISN Conference and Lonergan Workshop

This weekend T and I attended the 2nd annual conference for the Institute for the Study of Nature. It was a very enjoyable two days! Not only were the talks interesting, but the eclectic, enthusiastic, and entertaining attendees were great fun to get to know. The conference began on Friday afternoon, and we met up with our friend M and her sister and father, who were also attending the conference. Dinner that night (at Bertucci's--such good food!) was a loud and energetic variety of conversations and we stayed well past our bed time. Partially due to the lateness of the evening before, and partly due to my need to clean the house, we skipped the morning sessions (which, when we got there, appeared to be a shame, since everyone was raving about the second keynote speaker's lecture!) and got to the conference in time for lunch. Mostly all I did was listen to the discussion of the previous talk, since I had nothing to contribute, but it was fun to listen and watch. Two of the afternoon sessions were divided up between two or three rooms to facilitate concurrent lectures, and from all accounts were all pretty good. Dinner that night was a blast, too. It was held at the Kendall Hotel's Black Sheep Restaurant, which was converted from an old firehouse. Quite charming, in its own right! Home again, way past our bedtime, but after a very yummy dinner and more fun conversations and good connections. All in all, a very delightful conference. We were going to go to yoga on Sunday morning, but we decided to catch up on a bit of sleep instead. We had a nice breakfast listening to (and watching) the rain pattering outside our kitchen windows (and watching the cute little birds hop through the rain to get at the bird feeder we put up on our fire escape). We went to Mass at St. Clement's, and the father's day homily was excellent. After Mass we hung out downtown and ate brunch at a friend's house. Then we toddled off to the airport via the T to pick up Dr. S, who's here for the Lonergan Workshop... which is this week! (It's been a month of conferencing.) My sweet husband is the "gopher" for the Lonergan Center here at BC, but he definitely loves it. The only problem he has so far is being torn between different lectures and having to figure out how to record both without bi-locating (though he's still working on the bi-location bit). He also has to wait for some bookshelves to be delivered at the Lonergan house, which might interrupt a lecture. Last week, he typed up a four-section essay for a professor (and Jesuit) who doesn't use a computer. Now Fr. F says that T could work for the CIA, having successfully deciphered such difficult handwriting! T loved that, too, though. There's not much that discourages him.. he's an eternal optimist! So that's our plan for this week... Next week we're going to CA to visit my fambily :) which will be wonderful. Until then, I must somehow manage to finish the report that's due for work this Friday (eek!) and coordinate details for events while I'm gone. Exciting times...

Our Visit to CA

My wonderful little philosopher husband, being the grand student he is, successfully managed to get a paper accepted at the Lonergan conference held at LMU in CA. We were both somewhat shocked, but very excited. T also got funding from BC for 1/2 the price of our plane tickets, which was certainly a big help.

We woke early on Friday to get ready and to leave enough time to walk to the T, spend an hour riding it to the airport, take a bus to the terminal, check our bags, go through security, and generally hurry up and wait for our flight. We did leave in plenty of time, but when we stepped outside the door of our building, it was drizzling something fierce. "Drat," I thought, "we almost escaped." We knew it was supposed to rain all weekend in Boston, and we were very much looking forward to spending it in sunny CA. And so, even on the plane, we carried with us an encumbering memento of the east coast--a huge maroon and gold umbrella, standing at an impressive 3 feet. Oh well.
Luckily (I suppose), it wasn't considered dangerous enough to be denied its persistently awkward place at our side and we didn't need to check it. Also luckily, we had a rental car where we could properly neglect it.

We arrived on time in CA and met my parents (as quickly as we could) at In 'n' Out Burger (YUM!). From there, T and Daddy headed to the conference to play and Momma and I met up with my sister to go dress shopping (for me). See, T's in a wedding in May and I'm not. I don't mind not being in the wedding (I will get to sit in the pew with all T's siblings!), but I wanted to be sure to get a dress that would look good next to T's tux. I'm happy to report I found a dress--the first one I picked off the rack! I love Ross :)

We all went out to dinner Friday night at Olive Garden and guess what! THEY HAD PORTABELLA MUSHROOM RAVIOLI!! I'm not generally a fan of mushrooms (not as much of a hobbit as T), but Luigi's, the restaurant where we had our reception, used to have it and it was amazing! Anyway, walk down memory lane eating my pasta. Fabulous.

T's paper was scheduled for 11am on Saturday and we all (Momma, V, and I) trouped over to LMU to hear it. He was so cute. When I wasn't busy being nervous for him, I just wanted to squeeze him. He wrote about the struggle against bias--as understood by Bernard Lonergan. Toward the end of his paper, he started to read it much faster and I was getting a little worried that he was worried or nervous. Turns out he was reading more quickly deliberately 'cuz he wasn't as sure about his arguments in that last part as he was at the beginning. Maybe he was reading faster hoping the more critical listeners wouldn't hear anything to criticize. I dunno :) After his paper there were several questions and he answered them all very well! I took notes of the comments and suggestions (ah, the life of a philosopher's wife!). Afterwards, Momma told T, "I have to say, you will make an excellent professor someday." :D

There was a banquet at the end of the conference and Momma, Daddy, T, and I all attended. There was an open bar (gotta love them Jesuits!) and the dinner was delicious--just the right sized portions and YUMMY food! It was good to meet a few of the "heavy hitters" in the Lonergan world, and we all had a generally wonderful time.

Sunday we went to 8am Mass with the 'rents and my sister, V. The priest was a delightful old man who reminded us a bit of Wakko from the amazing, wonderful show, Animaniacs, which was amusing. The gospel was beautiful--the story of the journey on the road to Emmaus. I love that one... Toward the end of Mass, T must have been very excited for something because he got all hyper and started tickling me and chuckling and moving his legs around. Oh well :)

Brunch at the restaurant where V works (more yummy food) and then farewells to Momma and Daddy. It was so good to see them. Being so far away seems to make time between visits longer than they actually are. We saw my family in January but here it is April and it feels like much longer than 3 months. We want to get back to the west coast sooner than later..

Next, T and I headed off to see DD, another friend from GU. We went to the Cafe Mermaid for a snack (being very full from brunch) and walked on the beach. Ahh, how sweet it is to catch up with old friends! As fun as it is to make new friends, it's always fun to reminisce with friends who have been there at formative periods of your life.
While walking on the beach, we found an OCTOPUS! A real one! We figured he got stranded there between high and low tide. DD just wanted to poke it and play with its tentacles, but T and I saved it (with my flip flop). At least, we hope we did. Maybe it was sick and oozed up onto the shore to die in the sun.. oh well. :)

Sunday evening we had dinner with with Mr & Mrs JMFV (I'm still excited that I remember all his names). We just love them and it was so good to see them! They took us to a fabulous Mexican restaurant--we've been missing good Mexican food. It's not something one finds very often in New England.

After dinner, T and I went back to my sister's place and we all three (plus two of V's best friends) watched the movie Enchanted. We thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a clever parody of any and all fairy tales but with enough respect for the hope in them to have a happy ending! Amy Adams has the princess bit down pat--voice, dancing, hands (especially the hands). It was a fun night of laughing all around! Even the morals of the movie were solid (i.e., the lawyer and his girlfriend don't sleep together). Highly recommended! :)

Finally, after several more email attempts to meet up with a certain vocalist all weekend, we packed our bags Monday morning to return the car and head "home." It was an odd feeling, getting on the plane and heading east. We knew we were heading home, to our own home which we love, but we were leaving a home just as close and familiar (not my sister's apartment--the west coast and proximity to family). It's strange to feel so divided--not in a bad way, of course. We feel divided because we know we are supposed to be on the east coast at this point in our lives. But we also know we want to be closer to family and old friends. They (the proverbial "they," that is) say "Home is where the heart is." Can your heart be split between so many places? Boston, CA, WA (east and west), even TX and AL?

BUT! We had an absolutely amazing visit and it was wonderful and blessed and full of joy and happiness. We'll get back "out west" one of these days... here's hopin'!

In Defense of Philosophers

"I don't know where my expertise is; my expertise is no disciplines. I would recommend to drop disciplinarity wherever one can. Disciplines are an outgrowth of academia. In academia you appoint somebody and then in order to give him a name he must be a historian, a physicist, a chemist, a biologist, a biophysicist; he has to have a name. Here is a human being: Joe Smith -- he suddenly has a label around the neck: biophysicist. Now he has to live up to that label and push away everything that is not biophysics; otherwise people will doubt that he is a biophysicist. If he's talking to somebody about astronomy, they will say "I don't know, you are not talking about your area of competence, you're talking about astronomy, and there is the department of astronomy, those are the people over there," and things of that sort. Disciplines are an aftereffect of the institutional situation." Heinz von Foerster, from an interview with the Stanford Humanities Review ------ Having married a philosopher, I feel it's time to speak out in their favor. When people ask me what my husband does, I say, "He's getting his master's degree in philosophy at BC." (Sometimes I have to add, "Well, that's what he's doing right now. He wants to do a lot of things, including a few PhD's and maybe a JD and business experience.") It's always a little irritating when they say, often derisively, "Oh, what does he want to do? Teach?" Why is it that people think the only thing you can do with a philosophy degree (or classics, for that matter. grrr) is teach? Good philosophy should be the thorough and honest study of everything--the pursuing of one's unrestricted desire to know. Do you know that Ph.D. means "Doctorate of Philosophy"? That means you get a Doctorate of Philosophy in Chemistry, or a Doctorate of Philosophy in Cello Performance. Philosophy means the love of wisdom. If you have a PhD in chemistry, you have a love of the wisdom which chemistry offers. But what if you get a doctorate of philosophy in philosophy? You profess a love of wisdom offered by the love of all wisdom. It makes perfect sense to me that T wants a PhD in philosophy--he wants to know everything about everything. It's true that not all philosophy programs (and teachers) foster this love of wisdom about everything (or one thing). There are two analogies from Walker Percy that I think are fittingly applied to the word philosophy. It is like a very old coin that is still in use, but whose markings and differentiating symbols have been rubbed bare by over use. I often hear people clamoring about a "philosophy of living" or that "philosophy = X." But what do they mean when they use the word? Or, the word philosophy is like the hull of a very old ship, encrusted with so many barnacled layers of meaning that it is now barely recognizable as itself. Truly, philosophy carries with it much baggage. In this picture, the debate rises, "but what do you mean by philosophy? Is it a way of living or is it something you study in school and have tests on? Can you do philosophy or can you just read about it? Are there implications or is it just a collection of nice ideas to think about when you're bored?" The questions are endless. But still, bearing in mind the above quotation by von Foerster, I think philosophers should reawaken their unrestricted desire to know everything about everything. No more of this "I'm a 'philosopher' but I'm only interested in so-and-so's interpretation of this one particular sentence in this obscure work by another so-and-so you've probably never heard of." If the 'philosopher' is sincerely interested in that obscure something, fine. But he shouldn't let it be the sole focus of his studies. Similarly we, the "common people," the "uneducated," the "non-specialists," should NOT rely solely on the advice of the elite specialists! Everyone has a desire to know. Go find out everything about everything. As Calvin puts it, "Let's go exploring."

My Philosopher King.. uh, Husband...

Lying in bed last night, T and I were talking about our day. Mine was pretty ordinary of late: at work all day editing a very long report. I can't say T's was un-ordinary, but listening to him sleepily tell me about his day, snuggled up close to him in the dark, made me smile and remember how much I love him... First, we went to Mass together, which was nice. It’s always better with him.

He works at the Lonergan Center on Thursdays. Yesterday he was asked to run an errand by the director of the Center:

“T, here’s my card, here are my keys. Go to this place and do this errand.”

“Ok, where is the place?”

“On Market Street by the something-or-other”

“Oh, is it near this thing?”

“Yeah, but you make a sharper left.”

“Oh, ok. Cool.”

Then he tells me:

“So I went to her car and drove to the place. The radio was tuned to a mix-it station, and I listened to 5 songs on the way there. It occurred to me while I was driving that these same 5 songs were always played on the Seattle mix-it station in high school. Then I wondered if all mix-it stations played the same songs all across the nation.

Anyway, then I got to the place, did the errand, and drove back.”

After work on Thursdays he goes to class. His first class of the day is at 2 in the afternoon:

“In Kierkegaard today, our professor was looking around the room to find someone to help her out of her pause, and I was smiling. She said, “T, do you have something to add?” And the whole class looked at me.

“I opened my mouth, which was a mistake, and then paused, because I wasn’t sure if what I had been thinking about was the same thing she had just stopped talking about. I didn’t want to say that I was thinking about Lonergan’s idea of the agent intellect and how it could be called “god” the way Kierkegaard does because I thought someone might stone me, so instead, I just said: “I wasn’t paying attention.” And everyone laughed and laughed.”

Normally he goes to his favorite class next: Bernard Lonergan's Insight taught by the one, the only, Pat Byrne. But..

"Insight was canceled today because Professor Byrne wanted to to go to this lecture thing. When I got there, everyone was really dressed up, and I was wearing my hobo coat. So the nice name tag people shoed me through the door so no one would see me outside the lecture hall. Then I took off my coat [he had on a nice blue sweater his mom got him for C'mas] and went out again and they were much nicer."

His “hobo coat” isn’t really that bad; but it’s the typical plaid-flannel, polyester-lined, over-sized coat that he wears when he’s working outside and it’s cold.

T really liked the lecture. The speaker was good and she incorporated several solid elements into her talk (even JPII). “But she was introduced by four different people. And at the end, another guy got up to talk about her.” He wanted to record it, and kept telling himself “Ok, get ready to record. Get ready…” He even had his voice recorder in his bag. But I guess the number of introducers threw him off because he realized he was still telling himself “Get ready. Get ready…” half way through the actual lecture. Oh well.

He called me at the end to ask if it was ok to bring home a friend or two for dinner. I love that about him—he always calls to make sure it's alright. I don’t think I would go berserk if he didn’t ask me, but sometimes it could be bad… He’s very considerate :)

We had a delightful friend over for dinner and spent some time watching youtube videos about babies and hiccups and funny songs and fainting goats and had a good time laughing together. We told philosophy jokes (even about Plato and his political philosophy--the philosopher kings..) and talked about theology. We're such geeks.

Getting ready for bed, T began to do several things but forgot to finish them. He walked over to our humidifier, looked to make sure there was enough water in it, but then paused to, undoubtedly, catch a thought racing around in his head. Then he kinda stumbled away from the humidifier…

and plugged in his phone to change and reached to turn off the light. Except we have a lamp plugged into a socket that’s controlled by the wall-switch and he was reaching for the lamp. “T, you should turn it off at the wall,” I told him. “Oh... yeah” he said.

Then he climbed into bed and snuggled up to me and we said prayers together. Before drifting off, I asked him, "T, did you look at the humidifier and forget to turn it on?" He said, "Um.. yes." So I got up and turned it on :)

------

I think he’s deeply pondering one of the papers he will write this semester. One he will call "Kierkegaard Crosses the Rubicon" (a paper comparing Kierkegaard to Walker Percy, which title he told me about when he was in the shower: "Oh, and I've decided what I'm going to call my paper!"), and another for Insight. I don’t know what that paper will be about. I don’t know if Taylor knows yet either—but he’s super-excited to write it!

Or he could be thinking about the small village he and a bunch of friends are dreaming about building in Spain in a couple years. Apparently land there is quite cheap, and the spot is fairly close to Madrid but still fairly rural.

In any case, he was just adorable :) If anyone ever asks me why I married him, I quote my mother:

"He makes me laugh."