"I'm Totally Going to Marry a Dude. Girls Stink."

The boys' preschool teacher was very good about teaching kids very early on that families can look different.  Indeed, that families should look different.  She asked the kids how many people it took to make a family.  Most of the kids counted the members of their family on their fingers and said that number.  But their teacher said it actually only took two people to make a family.  And that could be a number of different combinations:  mother and child, father and child, man and woman, man and man, woman and woman, etc.  There was nothing that was strange about any of those possibilities.  And if your family had more than two people, well good for you.  A family is a family.  The end.  No right, no wrong.  No natural, no unnatural.  Just people who love each other and wish to make a life together. How I wish Mrs. A. could've been the teacher to the nation for the past, oh, seventy years.

The boys had a gay family in their preschool class and I wanted to re-iterate what their teacher said so I was talking to them about different families and I mentioned that B, in their class, had two moms.  D looked puzzled and said, "B has two moms?"  

"Yep," I replied, somewhat frightened of what was coming next.

"Whoa.  She. Must. Get. Yelled. At. A. LOT."  That was his takeaway.  

Although it doesn't reflect positively on me, as their primary caretaker, I still loved it.  Having two moms was not an oddity but more of a concern because, in his experience, moms yell more than dads.  I honestly believe my kids' generation will be the last to live in a United States where citizens do not have equal rights.  At least that's my most sincere hope.  

I hate that, with his history-making statement last night, the President immediately made the upcoming election about same-sex marriage.  And that is what it will be about.  But I agree with what Charles Blow wrote in the NY Times:

"Today, we are an inch taller as a nation. Today, we are a mile closer to the ideals described in the Declaration of Independence. Today, we have been transported light-years beyond where many ever thought we would be."

Amen.

We were watching the news months back when New York passed their same-sex marriage bill.  The boys had questions about why people were crying and laughing and celebrating.  When I told them it was because, that now, in that state, people could marry whomever they wanted, man or woman.  They both then voiced their support for equal rights: "We're totally going to marry dudes.  Girls stink."  Should the sentiment endure another 20 or 30 years, I hope they can.

I can't promise you boys a lot in this world, but I can promise you that we will love you no matter whom you love.  The end.

Le Pique-Nique, Part Un.

We were very fortunate to have been able to take a trip to France (and Switzerland!  And Italy!) last fall.  Adults only.  That just made us even more fortunate.  My in-laws volunteered - VOLUNTEERED - to come stay with the boys so we could take a vacation.  It was our 10th anniversary and I still had my engagement ring so we figured, let's celebrate!  Seriously.  I lose jewelry like it's nobody's business; this was celebrated along with hitting the 10-year milepost.

We talked and talked (and also talked) about where we wanted to go.  Carter had about a gazillion frequent flier miles, so ticket cost wasn't an issue.  We had taken a trip to London and Paris the fall we were married and had a blast.  What engineer loved the Chunnel train?  What engineer excused himself saying he wanted to "look around" and came back 45 minutes later after making friends with the conductor?  God love him.

So we were thinking Europe again.  I'm not big on non-direct flights.  There are too many variables.  Our time was precious and I didn't want to spend it in the Atlanta airport (which I've done previously).  But there was a daily Detroit - Paris flight that left at a decent time.  "Book it," I said, "and we'll figure out the rest."

Best trip ever.  We cashed in hotel and AmEx points to get free nights in Montreaux, Switzerland (my new favorite hotel in the world), and Cannes, France.

Le Palais Montreaux.  Please may I go back to there?  The bed was like sleeping in a puffy cloud of puffiness.  Plus our AmEx night included a crazy good breakfast the next morning in an amazing room with a full wall of windows looking out on Lake Geneva.  I think Carter maybe had a tear in his eye it was so gorgeous.  And I might have had seventeen courses at breakfast but some of them were fruit so I'm not judging myself.

One of the nights we didn't have a reservation booked we ended up in Vichy, France, at this amazing spa hotel (Hotels.com!).  In the morning we awoke to a gorgeous day and tried to visit the spa but, as it didn't open until 10 a.m. and we were there at 7:30 a.m., one of the staff directed us to the rooftop pool.  It was a swim-out jobber and out was about eight stories high overlooking some lovely 18th century homes and gardens.  And also we were the only people there.  Later we discovered there was some Russian women's sports team of some sort staying there too.  It's pretty much a diet hotel, but it was beautiful.  And we dined out.

The pool.

The view from the pool deck.

Later we left in our rental car to make our way to back Paris, with a stop at Versailles, because Carter needed to see Versailles.  We stopped at a Boulangerie (bakery) on the way out of town.  It was the kind of place where the locals went every single day to get their bread.  I queued up and got some good looks, as I was clearly an outsider, but I persevered.  When I reached the front of the line, I made my request in French and even understood when the matron asked if I wanted my baguettes "bien cuite" (well done).  I replied, in French, "Not so much," and got approving nods all around.  I paid for and gathered by bread to calls of "Bonne Journee" (good trip) from everyone in the joint.  It was fantastic.

I WON FRANCE.  The end.