Plot Points and The reason we can't keep candy in the house

Do you remember the first time you could draw a star as a kid? Or a heart? Or write your name? Once you figured it out you did it over and over and over-- with chalk, with markers, on walls, scratched into doors... it didn't matter. Anything was fair game because what could be cooler than drawing a five point star?

Today I was outside playing with the kids and I found myself drawing novel plot diagrams in the dirt with a stick. Over.and.over. ...Set up, plot point one, plot point two, resolution: Across, up, UP, down... Jamie came over and asked me what I was doing, I thought about it for a second and then showed him how to draw a star. That was still too difficult so we practiced drawing letters instead and it reminded me of why I love writing so much. It feels doable. Even the Great Gatsby is just made up of words, words made up with letters from the alphabet, the same "J's" and "C's" that say "Capitol J for Jamie" and "Capitol C for Charlie". It can all be broken down to something simple. I'm sure the same thing can be said for the Olympic figure skating I watched last night, but it certainly doesn't look that way to me. I haven't been doing splits since I was 2, or wearing skates since I was three, but I have been learning my ABC's since then just like everyone else and writing is a beautiful thing (even if I haven't mastered the art of novel writing yet).

What is not a beautiful thing is Jamie on a candy high. It does not matter where I hide it or how high I stash it, Jamie will find a way to get to it. Which is why he's running naked around a pile of toys right now like some sort of hyper, Native American dance. But at least he's a freshly bathed, hyper Indian who's going to bed in about five minutes. (Hallelujah)

The candy though, has got to go. I can't eat it fast enough, the dog can't eat it without dying, and I'm not sure what the chickens reaction to it would be, so for now, it gets thrown out. Here's to restored peace.