then have some Sarah fail to identify you on a test

This morning Martha got up earlier than she usually does because she had to make up some time at work and get to an appointment to get her leg x-rayed -- her left knee has been acting up on her for weeks. I couldn't get back to sleep so after I checked the progress of Martha's changing eating habits -- she's lost seven pounds since Sunday, I am so proud of her! -- I finished reading Billy Collins' poetry collection The Rain In Portugal (ISBN 9780679644064) and this may turn me back on to "modern", by which I mean written in the last twenty years, poetry. That's him in the picture. It's got some really good stuff (today's title is a line from his "Mister Shakespeare"), and no lie he probably wasn't Poet Laureate of the United States early this century nor inducted into the American Academy of Arts and letters last year for slouching, or at least obscure, work or references. This should remind ME I ought to collect my own written poetry together and publish it, large or small, before I die.


Right now I'm looking at something like "Poems Before Fifty".


Sarah at least will not fail to identify Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, on a test. (Nothing personal, Princess, the line came up and I couldn't resist using it!) Last night after I'd brought the kids home from Grandma and Grandpa's Sarah sat down to some homework she had about Aphrodite that she had to use the sources her teacher specified to do it for some depictions of her are "inappropriate". I mentioned this morning that I thought it ironic she got that assignment, to write and support information about the goddess of love, on Valentine's Day when it's Aphrodite's son Eros (better known as Cupid, his Roman name) who is better known for that. But I was informed that Sarah had this assignment for some days already. She said she was impressed I knew Cupid was Aphrodite's son though, in that lilt of voice that says, "Ok, I agree with you Dad, now let's go!"


Some small victories.


Jeffrey and Sarah both brought home their Valentine's Day boxes stuffed to the gills, and in Jeffrey's case candy mostly eaten. He figures he's making up now for when he'll have to get orthodontic work done to correcting a biting problem he is developing. We have his first appointment next Wednesday, and I've also learned that next Friday Martha will need to get an MRI done on her left knee for a possible stress fracture. In the event that's what it is, Martha is walking with a cane right now because she needs to keep weight off her leg. This also means don't lean on it ... in any event, I welcome and covet (I think in this case I'm not breaking the tenth commandment because I'm not coveting, not wanting to have more than someone else does, a thing) any prayers and encouragement and thanks you are willing to send up for my wife.


And me too,


David