I had a lovely day. Over breakfast I finished reading my book group book, Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. It's a deeply disturbing lyric novel about being a soldier in the Iraq war. It wasn't fun to read, but it seemed fitting for Veteran's Day.

Then I graded a student's paper, bought tickets for Rose's dance performance, and walked to the store to buy craft supplies. On the way, I called my dear friend Nancy and had the great pleasure of talking to her about racism, how to write well, the meaning of friendship, death, money, and the thrill of potty training a three year old.

I had to go to three stores, but I successfully found not only felt and feathers, but hair clips and earring hooks.

I arrived home just as my dear friend Deirdre pulled up. We took some subset of children to the park, got lunch on the table for eight, and pulled out the craft boxes.

Deirdre and I have been doing crafts with our kids for over ten years now. I'm not artistic or even particularly crafty, but a hot glue gun, pom poms and glitter fill me with a kind of glee. We both remember having to cut out every felt stove top hat, hot glue every red ribbon. Now, the kids just create with abandon. We made bead earrings, snowmen hairclips, turkey center pieces, and several caterpillars that had their own pouches.

Over the course of the day, eight kids and three adults joined us. I was in play date heaven. Now, I'm really sleepy, and I have to still plan tomorrow's class, but the room is basically tidy, and I feel fulfilled.