Flirt, Fall, and Fiction

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Sammy has a boyfriend!  Well, ok, not really.  But I mentioned this boy before - he's the one who beamed when I remembered his name the other day.  Well, today at the school playground I said hello to him again, and he said, "No. That's not my name.  My name is Izo."  I said, "Izzo?"  And he said, "No. Eeeeeeezo."  I happened to see his mother and asked if that was his nickname, since it does sound a bit like his real name (which I'll withhold).  She had never heard of this, so I suppose he had just made it up.  Sammy got really excited and we all chased each other around yelling, "Izo, Izo."  Sammy was giddy and giggly and didn't want to leave.  Then when my back was turned, apparently Mr. Izo pushed her because when I turned around she was on the ground crying.  He said it was an accident but his mother said she saw it and it didn't look like it.  They made up and we left, but in the car, all Sammy could talk about was Izo.  This all seems like classic 3-year-old flirtation to me, especially the pushing.   The whole thing reminds me of her first run-in with the species we call boys.


2. I am really enjoying this fall weather.  I think this might be the longest real autumn I've ever experienced.  Los Angeles and New Orleans don't have a real autumn at all.  Chicago and mid-Michigan have very nice fall weather that lasts about 2 weeks.  Virginia has been beautiful both years that I've been here.


3. In the past few weeks, I've come up with two more story ideas.  I'm not sure if they will work or not, but they are good possibilities.  One of them is a kind of unique short story that would have to be completed quickly, so I'm going to do a little thinking on it alongside my work on the original story (which is coming along).  Wow, I went from a desert to an oasis of ideas.