I woke up ridiculously early this morning – roommate driven – despite staying at an airport hotel to catch an early morning flight to Italy for Italian Stallion’s wedding.

Sometimes I think people the world over are super strange. I try to remind myself that this is what makes the world interesting, the fact that everyone has such different motivations, attitudes, perspectives, ways of reacting, etc. In most cases, we have a choice of how (and how much) we interact with people, and how we invest our time and energies. So we can easily avoid friction by limiting contact, or the context of the interaction. As cousin J observed, and I fully acknowledge, I’m pretty conflict avoidant. That’s why I generally try to be easy going and not be fussed about things, because many people seem to have strangely strong views about things, and I just want peace and quiet. I dislike unnecessary drama and complications for things which don’t matter (which is the vast majority of things). I guess that is why it is so important to find your (one’s own) people, or person. Or groups of people, or be fine doing things on your own.

AJ and I were good together because we had a lot in common, and had a lot of similar values and perspectives, although it wasn’t 100%. And we had other issues. I hope, and believe, there is someone out there for me. The best is yet to be – per ACS (I) motto.

Some more snippets of the boys before I forget –

• O did really well in this UKMT Junior Math Challenge (top scorer in his school), and got invited to the next stage ‘Junior Kangaroo’, where if he does well, he can progress to the Junior Math Olympiad
• The other day, I was sniffling slightly after my run, and F asked me, “Mama, are you sad?” I responded, “No, why do you ask?” And he said he thought I was crying. He’s observant and really sweet. Such a darling.
• O has been struggling somewhat with his piano – I think reading both clefs and playing different notes and rhythms on right and left hands have been more challenging than he expected. I asked him to play and learn the right hands notes first, then the left hand notes, before combining them together. Classic breaking down / scaffolding technique. He didn’t think I could do it, so challenged me to play one of the later songs in Suzuki Piano Book 1. It’s been a while since I played piano, but it wasn’t difficult for me, so I demonstrated that it is eminently doable. Playing an instrument – and I do think piano in particular – helps with brain plasticity, so I’m glad he’s taking it up, and hopefully he will remember some humility again, as he is often over confident and slightly arrogant, because he is so advanced in his violin playing.