All Rachel all day

Today I spent several hours doing Rachel-related activities. In the morning I helped the kids in her class do an art project involving Chinese art, initiated by the school's artist-in-residence (yes, McKinley has one of those; I was stunned) and I gave a little talk beforehand about what it is that Mommy does for a living. I said I was a writer and editor and held up a copy of The Post. I was gratified that a few kids recognized it instantly and grinned.

Then I launched into some of the nuttier stories I've done, like the one about the college professor who lived under a stairwell on campus.
Rachel raised her hand.
"Why haven't you told me any of these stories?" she demanded.
"Because you never asked," I replied.
She gave me That Look, so I'm sure we'll be discussing my newspaper career sometime soon.

Afterward I raced to the pool and made calls all afternoons on various stories I'm working on. Then I brought drinks to Rachel's Daisy Scouts meeting tonight, at which a policeman and policewoman talked about authority figures and the work they do. Rachel asked several really intelligent questions, including, "Do you use DNA? I learned about DNA in a book." The officers seemed totally nonplussed by her question. She also told them that "My mom hired someone to clean the house and they were robbers and took her jewelry." (I buried my face in my hands at that one; it was a sore reminder of what happened as I was getting our house in Portland ready for sale).

Then we stopped by my neighbor Carol's house. Carol is the single mom, now-retired FBI agent who is moving to Chicago this weekend to have a simpler, saner life. She is incredibly friendly, Rachel loves her 3-year-old daughter Lina and I will sorely miss her wisdom. We stayed quite late, until almost 9 (Rachel had had dinner at her Scouts meeting) and I said goodbye after Carol invited us multiple times to visit Chicago and stay with her. And, heck, I just may do that.