Yes, yes.  It HAS been a while.  I've missed you too.

Anyhow, my eldest daughter provided me with wisdom so enduring and relevant that I feel a deep moral obligation to blog about it.

We went out for Chinese, a rare occasion since the bankrupting trifecta of having 3 kids, being a full time student, and finally settling my neverending divorce.  Ever the education enthusiast, I always read and interpret my children's fortunes as a means of introducing them to metaphors.  My oldest girl, age 5, opened her cookie to find a fortune reading: "Don't ever slam a door you might want to walk back through."

Sound advice.  I explained to my kids that the fortune meant that we should always do our best to treat people with kindness because we might need kindness from them one day.  We finished off our fortune cookies and green tea ice cream and left.

Several hours later, my girls were coloring pictures at the table while I buried my head in an impossible to decipher article on alveolar gas exchange percentages among COPDers.  As per usual, my younger girl was wrecking the picture my older girl was drawing.  Chaos ensued.  Somewhere in the middle of the struggle, my older girl had an epiphany and shouted at the top of her lungs, "STOP IT! What did mommy say about slamming people in their back door?!!!!!"

I have gathered from all this that my child is clearly gifted.