Just before three o' clock yesterday, my mom and dad arrived safely in Milford. Thanks to cell phone technology I called them about an hour earlier to see how they were doing. They were stopped in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and were trying to figure out if they could save some time by just heading straight north on route 13. I had never looked at it but yes, it does cut out a lot of time. The hard part is finding route 13 when you're in Fitchburg. Once they found it, it was nice straight shot north into Brookline and Milford, New Hampshire. It probably cut out about an hour of driving.
Just before dinner my mom gave Claire's loose tooth a good tug and it came out. This is her second tooth to come out. It is one of the top teeth. Unlike when she lost her first tooth on the bottom, this missing tooth really stands out when she smiles. I'm glad it waited until after her school pictures.
Last night I picked up two books from Toadstool Bookstores in Milford. One was Bartlett's Familiar Quotations which has recently been published as its seventeenth edition. It's considered a classic reference and is often used by writers and for public speaking. Considering how much of my day is taken up with writing, I thought I'd keep it handy at my desk next to my dictionary. Also just released was a book on the history of Milford, New Hampshire from the folks at Arcadia Publishing who do a lot of those town history books.
As is common when any visitors arrive, I was up late last night catching up. I showed my dad how he could check his email from here. We each swapped recent photos we'd taken. We ate some great apple pie from New England Pies that I picked up on my way home from work. We talked about our tanking 401(k)'s. About the only upside for me is that my ARM stock went up significantly this past month. I bought it at just under $2 and yesterday it was at $2.74. If only our ARC stock would do the same, I'd smile a lot more. Having been an employee of VAutomation (before it was bought by ARC) I have a bunch of cheap options to ARC stock. Currently they'd only buy an economy car. I'd like to see the stock recover so I could breathe easier about the kids' education.
I don't know what we have planned for the next week or so. I'm glad to see that the skies have finally cleared up. It's been overcast and rainy for the past few days. I didn't want their visit to be more of that.
How can you say luck and chance are the same thing? Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterwards.
-- Amy Tan