Hullo from the lake!  We have converged on Bay Lake in Minnesota with my parents and my sister’s family, and so I’m going to keep this brief because there’s a time for writing and a time for fun and this ain’t the time for writing.  As I type this, my sister is sitting on the floor working on a puzzle of the map of the United States, Kyle and my brother-in-law are bringing the pontoon back from the marina, my dad is wandering around carrying a foam box filled with worms, Fourteen is still sleeping, the little kids are playing in the yard, and I am taking a break from the aforementioned puzzle because I put together the border last night and have been riding that high ever since.

My nephews are eight and four and very cute.  Four is the spitting image of my sister at the same age: dreamy golden (his word) hair, looong eyelashes, smooshy chubby cheeks; delicious in every single way.  He is especially delicious because four is the C-U-T-E-S-T age where everything he says is hilarious since it’s coming from the mouth of a garden gnome.  For example, two seconds ago, he appeared out of nowhere from behind the couch, batted his eyelashes, and said,

“Hey, Auntie, are you looking for me?”

“I’m always looking for you,” I said, because that was the truth.

When my sister was two years old, she LOVED the movie Annie.  This love affair continued well into her pre-school years, so much so that she and my dad created a daily morning greeting that went like this:

“Did you have good sleepies?”  My dad would ask.

“Yes,” she would say.

“Did you have sweet dreams?”  He’d ask.

“Yes,” she would say.

“Did you dream about Annie?”  He’d conclude.

“YES,” she’d say.

Then he would ask me the same thing, but I would say, “NO,” when it came to the final question.

That morning routine carried through both our own childhoods, as well as the childhoods of our children.

Last night, as the kids were getting ready for bed, my dad asked Four,

“Are you going to have good sleepies?”

Four was double-fisting cheese sticks and didn’t answer.

“And sweet dreams?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Four said.

“And you’re going to dream about Annie?”  My dad asked.

“Yes, I will dream about Auntie,” Four said, looking at me.  “Because she’s right here.”

“I’m going to dream about you,” I said.

“Let’s dream about each other,” he said.

“Great idea,” I said.  “I am going to dream about you going down a slide at a playground.”

“I’m not going to dream about that,” he said.  “I will dream about something else.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

This morning, when I woke up, I found Four sitting at the counter eating breakfast.  He watched me as I closed the door to my bedroom, strolled down the hallway, walked up to him in the kitchen, and gave him a kiss on those cheekies.

“Auntie, you surprised me,” he said, surprised.

“I can see how that would have happened,” I said.  “I dreamed about you last night.”

“I dreamed about you, too,” he said.

“What did you dream about?”  I said.

“You sliding down the slide at a playground,” he said.

“What a coincidence,” I said.  “I dreamed about the same thing.”

“Caw-caw,” he said in a falsetto voice, imitating a bird.

“Very good,” I said, kissing him again.

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I took the photo above while simultaneously typing this story. Have a great week!

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This week on North Dakota Today we talked Nancy Klatt, my Nice Person of the Week, as well a free event to spend a little time in the dark. (Valley News Live)

Happy 100th anniversary to Beulah High School! (KFYR TV)

In “phew” news, Dex Avdem is doing well. (Grand Forks Herald)

Thank you to the Special Olympics team for cleaning up the North Dakota State Fair. (KX Net)

In national good news, teen suicide is seemingly on the decline. (Prairie Public, Found from “Oops Only Good News”)

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