That was the week that was ...

and what a week it was.

Sandra kept a careful journal that she'll share with Mike and Lynn when they return from their week-long trip to Ireland, but, in sum, we kept our promise. There were six kids at the start of the week at the beginning of the week and there are six kids at week's end. We spent five nights at their house and were wide-eyed with wonder as the household whipped around us. We got to know little Cassandra, what made her happy and what made her annoyed. Matt and Joe started football practice, Michael is in weight-training after work each day, and Krista and Tess stayed with friends for most of the week. All the while, the supply depot kept churning food and milk and clean clothes. At a minimum, Sandra estimated, there were two loads of laundry a day and we never had a full complement of kids in the house for a whole day. It was a blessing to be in the middle of a whirlwind of energy and love and fun and humor.

While Mike and Lynn were in Ireland, they hung out with Paul Hill, the story whose incarceration was told in the movie In the Name of the Father. M&L will have other stories to bring back as well, but we knew that they'd befriend all whom they'd meet.

In the "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" Department: a recent edition of the The Connection radio show had, as its featured guest, Marcel Marceau. In what I can only guess is an unrelated event, The Connection is going off the air today.

A tragedy wide and deep

Last night the husband of a co-worker and friend died of a heart attack. He was a young man. Please give someone you love a hug and think of a young woman who has lost her husband and girl who has lost her father and friends who have lost their friend.