Eek! a Mouse!

Every time Freestone gets in the car after ballet, he tells me how much he loves it.  And after every Nutcracker rehearsal, he talks about how fun it is to be a mouse.  This weekend when I was at a game store in Salt Lake with the kid, I said, "Do you want to come to this store and play Friday Night Magic?"  He said, "No, these people are serious.  It's not like this is my life.  Magic is just something I play between ballet classes."  He's so funny!  I don't know what to think about this boy, but I love him.  And even if "Magic the Gathering" isn't his life, he still managed what I think is magic, and sold a card to the game store for a hundred and fifty dollars!  It was a super rare foil or something like that.  He got it out of a run of the mill pack, and waited until the exact day he could get the most money for it.  Now he carries around his hundred-dollar bill and his fifty-dollar bill, waving them around and talking about what cards he's going to buy.

It seriously kills me not to save that cash for oh, maybe a plane ticket to Hawaii or - I don't know - a place to stay in Waikiki, but that money is his.  I'm clearly not smart enough to sell small pieces of paper with bits of tin foil on them for profit.

To celebrate the sale, Free and I got a slice at Este Pizza. Delicious.  I'm probably addicted, and I've only been there once.  In fact, I've already started proselytizing.  After we ate, we immediately bought a slice for a homeless guy down the street because, well, this pizza has to be shared.  As we were walking to our car with a box of garlic knots for the other kids, a faint young man carrying a heavy pack shuffled right up to me and said, "Please..."

I handed him the box and said, "Garlic knots?"

He said, "Yes!!"  Poor kid was probably starving.  I don't know where he came from or where he was going, but he was obviously on a pilgrimage to something.  A place, and idea, a conviction, I don't know.  Maybe he's a kindred spirit of mine and just wants to see the world.  Wherever his sojourn takes him, I hope he has a mom somewhere praying for his safety.  I hope he has a mom who believes he is as infinitely incredible as I believe Freestone is.  And I hope she tells him.