Greetings from Anaheim

Yes, Anaheim. Exhausted child capital of the Western United States.

The girls and I made it to the hotel, and an hour or so later, to Disneyland. In the space of three drizzly hours, we went on six rides (with a break for hot chocolate and fritters in New Orleans square), met D and Mark, and stopped for a bite of pizza in Tomorrowland, and then we girls made our slow way back to the hotel: R carrying D's leftover pizza, and me carrying a passed out, bootless, S.

D and Mark stayed to close out the park (any minute now, they'll probaby start back to the hotel too.)

S was bootless because some time after we left the pizza joint (where she had fallen asleep in my lap), her pink rain boots had slipped off her feet. I didn't even notice this it until I was out of the park. I had turned around and we were making our slow way back, retracing our steps. And then I reached D by cell and found out he had the boots. That was a relief.

I have mixed feelings about the experiences the next few days will hold, but I'm also fascinated by the concept of trying to stay fully conscious of the present, of each moment, while in the midst of the commercial hype experience of the magic Kingdom, land of children melting down and parents bickering. In a sense, this is the perfect place to focus on nothing more than what is happening moment by moment. But it's also a place of many distractions and countless emotional triggers and manipulations. Observing and experiencing, while staying conscious of what's really important (which is none of this stuff) - now that'll be a neat trick.

I'd best sign off before I get any more incoherently philosophical, I suppose. Thank goodness for the hotel's high speed internet access so that I can continue my daily whatever-this-is.