In 1940, Americans spent about fourteen percent of their food budget on eating out; by 1975 it was up to twenty-two percent, and by 2010 it was forty-one.

Tonight at my son’s school there was a choral, orchestral and dance performance for grades k-3. As you can imagine the talent is, at best, raw. Historically that’s made all school gatherings tricky because as far as performance quality, there’s not much to work with. Granted the audience is as friendly as you can get and no one is really there for the talent anyways.

But given at most of the gatherings like this is majority of the audience isn’t there for any given performance. We sat through nine presentations before Sebastian’s group came on. What made a few of them work better than the others was the fun quotient. When the teacher programmed something fun for the kids to do the 5-minute show became instantly fun for everyone to watch. Sadly, few of those preceding 9 shows were fun. But the music teacher at his school picked songs people knew, had the kids march and dance and kept the whole thing short. Our other kids actually enjoyed the music portion because the emphasis was on fun rather than performance.

So we actually stuck around for the last group. Sure that was in part because most of the audience was gone by that part and we felt bad for the last group of kids. But she rewarded us and the final song was “Good Night” from the Sound of Music.

The whole thing was a good reminder to me. Unless your quality is truly exceptional, people will always prefer to engage with what’s fun.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if I wasn’t sick this week? Here’s to hoping a good’s night sleep help makes that dream a reality.

Steam has always made me a little wobbly. I’ve passed out in or just after a shower a few times and nearly passed out a dozen more. This morning was one of those wobbly mornings. I’ve had a virus all week and a harsh cough with it. The cough probably made the steam effect more pronounced because just a couple of minutes into the shower my ears started buzzing, my warning sign for collapse.

Usually all it takes is an airing out the room and getting out of the shower to right things. This morning that didn’t work. Seconds after I told Jenn I thought I may faint, I did. Problem was, I was sitting next to the tub and after passing out I managed to fall over the lip of the tub, face first. To further compound that problem, thanks to the wondrous tangling properties of doll hair our tub drains a little slowly and there were a few inches of standing water waiting to cushion my fall.

Face down in water and unconscious is not a great place to be. Fortunately Jenn heard the crash and after great labor managed to lift my face out of the water. That’s about when I came to, very confused why I was in the tub again and why my nose was full of water.

In the years we’ve been married I’ve often said Jenn was my hero. This morning she also saved my life.

Recently a park re-opened just around the corner from my parents house. It was once the home of Patrick Henry, most famous perhaps for his “give me liberty or give me death!” speech¹. The park has been open since 2006 but we’d never once stopped by in the hundreds of times we drove past it. Just after Christmas my parents and my family walked the grounds and I was stuck just how beautiful the park was.

It was hiding in plain sight, like many objects of beauty tend to. We were fortunate to have made the ready discovery and enjoyed the ground, verdant even in the start of the Virginia winter.

1. Henry’s speech was to Virginia’s legislative body in 1775 and reputedly persuaded a vote to join the revolution against Britain. And the statement “give me liberty or give me death!” wasn’t just a proposition. Henry’s speech and the representatives’ collective legislative action would either lead those men to a liberated nation or to death at the hands of the British.

The full conclusion of Henry’s speech was, “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”