Elmo and DeNiro

Sweet February twenty-Nine!-
This is our grace-year, as I live
Quick, now! this foolish heart of mine;
Seize thy prerogative!
-WALTER DE LA MARE

Every four years we get an extra day. An extra day to return phone calls, emails, pay the bills, run household errands, dig in the garden, tickle our kids, or schedule a date with our spouses. I often feel like Charlie Brown when Lucy repeatedly pulls away the football and, WHAM! he's flat on his back. Still, I know it's my prerogative. Nothing ventured- nothing gained. And I wouldn't change life as it is with its simple joys and messiness.

As I write this my kids are playing in the mud outside, and on further inspection they're using half a bottle of dish soap to wash rotting pumpkins in the yard. That leaves me just enough time to post my favorite visit with Elmo.