On the suffering of urchins and amphibians

Frog update:

Simon kept the frog inside for 5 days and helped it to various amounts of over-affection, intense jumping practice and dried crickets (you have those on hand, right?). Darwin AKA Bob the 2nd finally got to meet Mark and the next day I was ready to send the little amphibian on his way. It was a combination of him getting accidentally lost behind my computer when I was already irritated by something and the constant worry that we were somehow torturing him. Simon returned him to his natal stump and came back in with big crocodile tears. Frog tears. So I held him on my lap and thought about how life is hard. Poor bud. That was 4 days ago. But get this! This is a merciful frog! A frog worthy of the name Jean Valjean! Twice Simon has come in from the backyard and reported: "I just saw my frog. He came up out of the stump and I talked to him and held him for a while." Or, "I went to my frog's hole in the stump and he wasn't there, so I poured water on it and he came out!" Isn't that unbelievable!? A little amphibian the size of your thumbnail and he hasn't _________ (run away, died, been eaten, learned not to show up when he hears Simon coming). Now, a note on Simon's behalf--he is a very conscientious frogkeeper--there isn't a bit of malice in his keeping of the frog. He just adores it and always wants to be holding it or following it as it jumps around the garage (while I think "How is that frog JUMPING like that after four days of captivity and no food?!), letting it watch t.v. or figuring out how to get the right thing to feed it (flies? another cricket!? a fruit fly? "wait, the wing of a mosquito I have in my bed!"). Some evidence of his tenderness: On the first two days that Bob Darwin the 2nd was returned to the wild he was "hunting for food" AWOL and so Simon caught rollypollys in his absence and loved them and let them climb over his arms for hours and talked endlessly about them. He's 2 for 2 loosing them on the couch though, so they are EXPRESSLY forbidden to come in any more. (Not like I didn't tell him not to bring them in in the first place.)

Anyway, did you follow my reference to Jean Valjean? I have been reading Les Miserables for 4 months and last night Mark and I got to go to the spectacular show. Will you please read that book???!!!!! Thank you. It was fabulous. Thanks to Heather and Derek (THANKS!!!!!!!!!!) we were able to go enjoy 5 hours of being dressed-up, kid-less, out-in-the-evening seeing fine arts, city lights, and the bringing to life of some of the best literary philosophy on humanity ever realized. If you have only ever heard the music (which is splendid), will you please now go read the book? Thanks.

I love Mark. wooo wooooo!

Ten years ago at this time we were at BYU and I asked Mark to the Preference dance (possibly the most adrenaline-filled three minutes of my life were those where I got up the guts to ask him. by writing it on a potato chip and handing it to him of course.) Anyway, that's another story, but the night of the dance was magical. We went to SLC to a dance at a gallery and afterwards held hands for the first time walking the (too) few blocks to the car. So now, being gussied up for an evening in a big city with all the lights and skyscrapers (including a reallyreally handsome one named Mark) always brings back that memory for me.

Man, I could a write pages on those two nights. But for now, adieu!