I took the kids to the company picnic yesterday. Thirty-thousand geeks, 3 days in July, 1 farm nestled in the foothills of the Cascade mountains: Big fun.
The afternoon started off with motorcycle daredevils on a twenty foot ramp.
The sky grew dark, but no daredevils were lost.
The children were impressed.
In boot-camp, they said the smoking lamp was lit and it meant you could have a cigarette whenever you wanted to light up. The first time I heard it, I wanted to know where this lamp was. I wanted to keep my eye on it. On the way to the park, I told the kids that if they ate a good lunch, the soda lamp was lit for the rest of the afternoon. Both their eyes got big as cans of pop. Neither asked to see the actual lamp.
We played games.
We waited in lines.
Went on rides.
And then the soda lamp was extinguished.
Present Tense 