Today after our hour in the pool, I changed beside a little girl who was singing a song. She was a pretty little thing, with one of those stereotypical faces that seems to broadcast a cognitive delay. There's actually a professional name for those facial characteristics, but I misremember it at the moment. The song she sang was an open-throated hum with no lyrics that I could hear.

"Are you singing a song?" I said. She kept singing, looking at her hands spread out before her eyes. I wondered briefly if she was used to talking; some of our kids don't have many spoken words at their command and it's not a big deal for me anymore to talk without expecting a verbal response. Heck, Annie barely speaks at all - most of our conversations are of the smile & nod variety.

This all passed through my head in a flash. "Are you singing about your hands?" I asked. She pushed up her face against mine, scowling adorably. I made a face back, then flipped my hair out my eyes so she could see my face. Her expression lightened & when her instructor put on a pair of glasses, she broke into a smile & held her arms out.

I hugged her for a second, this little silent thing.

"You like giving hugs, huh?" said her instructor as she led the little girl away. I smiled too, feeling like I'd just experienced quite possibly the best moment of the whole week.

So the Boy did, in fact, lose his job yesterday. Our reaction has, as advertised yesterday, been a strange mix of relief & unhappiness. I'm glad he'll be home every night now, and that we can plan a Christmas vacation that will last longer than 4 days. I am really glad that he won't be driving the back woods of New Brunswick this winter. But I'm still dealing with the cognitive dissonance of not having a vehicle on evenings & weekends...every time I think I've got it all figured out, I remember that our next visit to Strange Adventures will begin with an hour-long bus ride.

Oh well. It's all good. The Boy's relief has translated into a fierce enthusiasm for housework, which means that I haven't had to lift a finger today. Fun!