Paper Moon

I walked behind the school to my trailer last Monday.  It was a bright, sunny day but a strange wet mist hung in the air, accompanied by a strong chlorine, swimming pool smell.   

"Hey Wagner, they sayin' there's some kind of big dog up there, like a German Shepherd-type dog." one of my co-workers called as I walked the kids up the hill at the end of the school day.  I paused for a minute, then slowly started walking again.  The kids froze.
"Ya'll follow her!  She's the dog whisperer.  Just stay behind her!"
I smiled and kept walking.  The kids followed.  

One of my "interesting" kindergarteners shot out of his classroom while I picked up the rest of the kids.
"Hey, Pah."  I greeted.
"Hey."  he responded. 

"I pooped my pants."

"Uhhh, poop?"  I whispered.

"Not uh, you know, pee?"

"Yeah.  Poop."

I inadvertently sniffed the air.  There was a poop smell.

"So um, did you change clothes?"

"Nah."

"Are your parents coming, you know, to bring you some?"

"No."

"Okay Pah, you wanna, um, like go to the bathroom or something and clean yourself up?"

"Sure."  he responded, with a shrug.  

Yup, just walking around super casual, pants full of poop.  

October 5th marked a year since Temple came to our house.  We adopted her on October 9th.  In ways I can't believe that a year has passed, in other ways it seems like longer.  I spent the day yesterday at a work conference.  I didn't want to go, but was actually kind of inspired after I finished it.  I picked up Temple's anniversary cake from the dog bakery and headed home.  I spent some time creating and spray painting Quetzal-wings for our Hispanic Heritage assembly next week.  

I think everything is okay.