School days

Yesterday, my son brought home the first fundraiser sheets of the school year.


Cookie dough.

Ten different flavors.

In 3-pound tubs.

Ooh, baby...


Oh, sure, it's pricier than the homemade variety, being a fundraiser and all; but it really is good stuff.

Here's a disorienting thing: at the same time I look over these order sheets, I've been listening to the radio reports about another school. Children in Russia who came for their first day last week, and will never leave. Babies, with gap-toothed smiles and skinned knees... used as disposable cannon fodder by armed militants. Caught in the crossfire. The lucky ones carried naked and bleeding from the scene...

All this, while deciding how much cookie dough we can afford to buy.

I generally hug my kids when they get home. Today, when I stop crying, I think I'll do it twice.