Willow has now smiled at me as well. She is starting to look around a bit too. Her eyes are clear and blue - windows into the mysteries that all babies carry within themselves. One by one the mysteries will be forgotten, or shoved into some corner of her mind by the pressures of our world. It is our job as parents to make sure that all of the mysteries don't disappear. We need mysteries.

We leave for Portland the day after tomorrow. I miss the kids already, especially The Dickens, who is not going to understand our leaving at all. The trip should be fun though. I haven't gone on a long drive in at least three years now. In fact, the last time I did, it was to the same place - for the wedding of an old friend. M. and I made the trip on no sleep, and after the wedding found a hotel and slept for something like fifteen hours. Then we drove home.

I'm not telling why I ended up driving to Portland without sleeping. ha ha.

cds I listened to while planning to sleep this time: Sigur Ros "Von" and "Agaetis Byrjun", Venom "Skeletons in the Closet", Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson & Sigur Ros "Englar Alheimsins", and V/A "In the Name of Satan - a tribute to Venom",