today's gratitude (out of the mouths of babes)

is for my awareness that my kids are here to teach me about life just as much as I am to teach them.

Yesterday, Isaac got his feelings hurt by a lame joke told at his expense at a shiva call. I explained to him that when people lose someone they love, and we go to visit them, they often make jokes that aren't funny, because they don't want to seem sad and upset. "Why can't they just act the way they feel?" he wanted to know. "If he feels sad, then he should not try to tell jokes. He should just say, "wow, I feel really sad, I'm glad you came to visit." " I agreed.

This afternoon, he told me not to get upset when I am not doing my best at wii bowling. "It has nothing to do with real bowling, and anyway, we are only playing it to have fun."

Of course, that's easy for him to say when he's beating me by almost 400 points. But seriously, the kid knows what he's talking about.