When camera phones first came out I didn't get it - what was the point? I had an organized purse I carried with me and I knew that my cell phone and my camera were right next to a full box of mints and a pretty well updated address book. Now I have no idea where anything is in my bag - I move aside the diapers and wipes to get to the camera and after finding the cell phone I forgot to recharge, the mail I forgot to send and the half eaten Clif Bar I was supposed to throw away, I realize I left it connected to the computer halfway through uploading it onto my overburdened hard drive.

If I had a brilliant little camera phone (though I couldn't stomach the attending fees), perhaps I'd have captured these images: Swiper dressed only in his Superman towel-poncho and a pair of blue goggles so fogged from a half hour of land activity that there's no way he can see all the people along the path back from the river who are smiling and laughing at him. Jordan and Sawyer Tuesday evening at 6 having just returned from shuttling the Stanford WOmen's Soccer Team back from the lower. It's 6pm but still 90 degrees and at the campground there's a four inch deep and three foot wide mud puddle from a malfunctioning sprinkler and they're both in it - and ironically, since they're usually naked, theyre both fully clothed. And in heaven. Sawyer coming out of Jordan's room tonight wearing a pink feathery, jeweled tiara, Jordan rotating through a princess dress, tutu and bedroom slippers, Tom at school this morning wearing one each of his two pairs of running shoes - a left and a right, surprisingly. And what I wouldn't want a picture of: me, as I never seem to have time to look at myself in the mirror before I leave home anymore and the rearview mirror in my car is eithier thankfully or not so fingerprinted I can't tell how bad it truly is. I think about wearing a headband or nice clip to keep my hair back, but in all honesty it'll always wind up being the elastic that lives on my wrist when it's not in my hair. I think I know where my brush is in my purse. I just don't know how long the fruit leather that was stuck in it will take to fall out on it's own.

We are burning the candles not only from both ends in our family but also seeing what a blow torch'll do to them in the middle.