Yesterday, Amy and Evan disappeared in the creek that borders our yard. Molly’s barking alerted me that something was wrong and adrenaline fueled Doug found them before anything bad could happen. The children got a lecture that started at the creek, continued to the back porch where their muddy exteriors were shed and lasted through the entire bath. It could be heard a mile in every direction. After the world’s longest and loudest lecture, I prompted Evan. “When the creek is wet, what do we do?” “We play in the mud!”

At band practice, the high school students were acting like teenagers when a DRUM saved “the boyfriend” from being run over by a car. I asked Sarah how the band director responded to one of her students being hit by another one of her students. “Oh, she didn’t know until after she saw him limping during the routine.” I knew football players would keep playing with injuries, but I had no idea that the band had to shake it off after near death.

Tommy is scheduled to have aptitude testing at Voc Rehab today. He kept referring to it as OUR appointment and claimed it was from 9 until about 10. When I pressed for more information, he played a message on his voice mail for me. “The testing will last from 9 a.m. until about 3 p.m.” “Umm, I guess you don’t need to stay with me.” I started mumbling that he should pack a lunch and his grandfather chimed in with, “It’s downtown. There’s lots of places to walk for food.” I know he’s going to get lost in downtown Knoxville. I just don’t know how long he’ll wander before he calls us for help.

I am going to be out of the house for most of the day today. My day starts with an appointment at 9 a.m. and doesn’t end until after a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Doug is home alone with all of the children. All of the children except for the extremely helpful Sarah who is at band camp with a scarlet sunburn that she got while marching in pouring rain. Of course, Tommy is downtown with no supervision. Now that I think about it, I think Noah is in charge of the youngest children today. I expect an endless stream of text messaged hysterics today. They’ll be from strangers following Doug’s blog and Twitter stream.