L and I have an ongoing joke about our respective radio curses. Every time he turns on the radio, he hears an Adele song. With me, it's Tom Petty. And it's not that we don't like Adele or Tom Petty. It's just that once in awhile we'd like to hear something other that Adele or Tom Petty.

Last week, I was driving to work, and the station I normally listen to kicked off the familiar strains of "Into the Great Wide Open", so I thought, "Hey, I'll switch it to Coffeehouse. They can't be playing Tom Petty," and honest to goodness, as soon as I flipped over, I heard the opening bars of "Free Fallin'". I couldn't believe it. It turned out NOT to be Tom Petty. It was Stevie Nicks doing a Tom Petty cover. So maybe it's now going to be that everyone sings Tom Petty songs.

Last night, we took the kids to the Round Rock Express game. After the game, Bob Schneider, one of L's favorite singers, was putting on a concert. More about that in a bit.

Anyway, in the middle of the sixth inning, the announcers came on the PA and said we were all going to get to vote on the song that they played between innings. Two of the three songs were, I kid you not, Tom Petty songs. We all just started laughing. Had to listen to "Free Fallin'" yet again.

But in the end, it was worth it. Bob Schneider really does put on a great show. Lots of fun, lots of variety in the music, and lots of clever lyrics (which we couldn't totally hear being in the ball park, but L knows all of them and sang them all the whole way home too). The best part though was that we all got to go out onto the outfield grass to hear the concert. Holy cow. I could have slept on that grass. It was soft and spongy and perfectly manicured. Just about everyone I saw took off their shoes so they could feel it. Both kids lay down in the grass to listen to the music. Little kids everywhere were doing cartwheels and somersaults and just generally enjoying themselves. It was about 70 degrees with a light breeze blowing. Could not have been a better night. Well worth the $14 a ticket admission price. The weather won't be nearly as pleasant, but I think we might have to go hear the Texas Tornadoes after the game on August 18th.

Thank you for your books which have meant so much to me and to my children. Thank you for making art and for sharing it with the world.

If you have not already seen Stephen Colbert's interview with Mr. Sendak, do yourself a favor and look it up. It's wonderful.

Still reading the Robinson book. Still very impressed. Now I'm going to have to learn more about Calvin as I think my initial impressions from very limited reading may have been completely wrong. Still think "Imagination and Community" is my favorite of the essays, but am also partial to "Wondrous Love".

Also had Blue Bell Red Velvet Cake ice cream this week. Holy cow, that's good stuff.

And so far tonight, Josh Hamilton is four for four with three two-run home runs and a double. How's that for slugging percentage?

ETA: Make that four home runs for Josh Hamilton. And the fans in Baltimore are a classy bunch. They just gave him a standing ovation. I hope I get to go to a game in Camden Yards sometime. Beautiful park, lovely people.

Life's been busy. Some good, some bad. Not sure if I want to talk about life right now or not. I do, however, want to talk about one book I read and one I'm reading.

First, the book I read: When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd

Ever have one of those just-when-I-needed-it books? Well, that's what this was for me. It's not one I'd recommend to everyone I know because (a) not everyone I know is Christian, and this book is definitely about spirituality, especially coming from a Biblical point of view, and (b) it's for people who are in or around mid-life and are going through all the changes, internal and external, that causes. I definitely needed this. It's all about learning who you really are and what fundamentally matters in your life. I am still learning that. I know what I want to matter in my life, but that's not always the way I choose to live. I'm going to try to make better choices.

The most important part of this book for me, though, was its emphasis on waiting. Taking time to think, to meditate, even to completely empty yourself and think of nothing at all. Just breathing and not reacting all the time. That is next to impossible for me. I want to do something. When a crisis presents itself, I want to solve it. And I want everyone else to jump in and start doing their part too. But life doesn't work that way. At least not in my experience. I can't always fix it. I can help. I can do some things, but some things are not up to me, and I have to wait, step back, let them happen, and try very hard to have faith.

I'm still thinking about a lot of what I read, but mostly I'm thinking about how I live and how God wants me to live. I don't know if I know those answers yet. I think I'm going to have to wait and see.

The second book is Marilynne Robinson's latest book of essays: When I Was a Child I Read Books.

Robinson is just brilliant. I adored Gilead and thought Home was exceptionally good too. I'm not completely through with this book, but am completely taken with the essay entitled "Imagination and Community". A couple of quotes from the essay:

"I would say, for the moment, that community, at least community larger than the immediate family, consists very largely of imaginative love for people we do not know or whom we know very slightly."

"I am convinced that the broadest possible exercise of imagination is the thing most conducive to human health, individual and global."

"...wisdom, which is almost always another name for humility, lies in accepting one's own inevitable share in human fallibility."

I wish I were able to express myself with even half the clarity and preciseness of thought that Robinson is able to.

When I finish that, it's back to Amigoland by Oscar Casares, a story I started and think I'm going to greatly enjoy, but I set it aside to read Sacre' Bleu by Christopher Moore (a fun, lighthearted look at the Impressionists) and these two books.

40-0. Wow. Just total dominance. I couldn't be happier for them!

Two of the guys in my department (which only has eight people) quit this week.

Last night Little G and I spent three and a half hours in Children's Emergency. She had classic migraine symptoms. Having never had a migraine, I wasn't sure what was going on. I think she was mainly just dehydrated and that's what brought it on. As soon as they gave her an IV, she perked back up. This morning she's wide awake and ready to go to school (thank goodness).

I've been in a training class most of the week. It's over at noon today, and I'm taking the afternoon off. I can't wait. I'm going to try very hard to completely ignore my work cell, no matter how many times it dings at me.