the ocean

My nephew started kindergarten last week. That didn't really have anything to do with me, other than that it made me super jealous. What I wouldn't give to be earning gold stars for simple arithmetic again! 

Of course, this was remote kindergarten, so there were no actual, physical gold stars. There's actually a very sophisticated online setup for it, far nicer than anything I use for meetings with my ginormous business clients. They can even write on the screen for everyone to see! They're not really supposed to do it without permission, though.

Because my sister and her husband are both really busy with work right now, my mom came to help out with the start of school. She seemed to love it, even though it involved being out in the suburbs by 7:30 each morning. She even packed a little lunch to take with her each day. And she and Jack developed little inside jokes, including something about pepperoni pizza and oatmeal that makes no sense to anyone else, but they seem to find truly hilarious. Oh, and today she and my sister were gossiping about how Madison is always volunteering but then doesn't even know what the question is.  Again, the jealously stirs within me.

But I guess I can take some comfort in the fact that I get paid for doing something for eight hours every day. That buys more than a few gold stars, as it turns out.