12

Some days feel like, no matter what you do or how hard you try, you just can't keep your head above water, and the more you struggle, the faster you sink.  By the end of the day, you're glad to get in bed, tired or not, in the hope that tomorrow will be better.
Today was the opposite of that.
All of the little things went right today.  Admittedly, it was a pretty quiet and uneventful day in a lot of ways, but I feel like I've gotten my stride back after trudging heavily through a couple days.  The days haven't been bad, by any means, but the rhythm's been just a little off.  Today was not like that.  Today, roughly nothing happened at school, roughly nothing happened in the morning, and the only real noteworthy thing was that Dog's brother (whose name, apparently, is Chaz) flew into town today.  The look on Tristan's face was incredible.  I think that boy couldn't have possibly been much happier in that moment... And then what's his first comment after seeing Dog's identical brother and realizing that he now has two dogs?  "...two... Hippos?"  No, buddy.  Only one Hippo.  "Oh yes.  Two... DOGS!!!"  Yes, that's Dog's brother.  What's his name, pal?  "Chaz!"
I have no idea where he came up with "Chaz," but it's just a word he's been throwing around when he's not sure of exactly what a word is (mostly while reading).  He used to throw around a word like Zoodah, but then we found a book called "Zoopa" at the library, so his made-up word took on meaning.  His new made-up silly word was "Chaz," but it seems he will again be in the market for a new silly word.  It'll be interesting to see what the new word turns into.  Kind of makes you wonder what goes through his head... Does he think carefully about these words with the idea that they may become real?  Does he have an idea what he means by these words, or are they purely silly?  He always laughs and smiles when he makes a word up like that, and then he consistently uses his made-up word in the same context, but I wonder if he has some sort of idea of what he'd like that word to eventually mean.  It may sound like a ridiculous idea, but you have to remember that this boy is so crazy smart that it's more than a possibility that he plans these things.
You know, it's not too too late and I may get some good sleep tonight, so here's to that.