Lex Lutheran (Patty)

I am throwing stones from a glass house a little, regarding the older kids in the household being in charge in the kitchen. Zeke is in this grueling summer program as you know, leaving the house by 8:30AM and returning around 10 or 11PM most nights. I have been basically packing food for him this entire summer. He'll say something like "Just put 2500 calories in a bag" which I hear as "Thank you for providing breakfast, lunch and dinner". Right when I thought my sandwich-making days were over...on any given day I might pack a muffin, a couple of sammys, 3 bananas, leftover pasta, a chocolate bar,cookies...he's eating me out of house and home! Could he make his own lunch? Of course, but I feel like we are getting through this architecture stuff together...just 2 more weeks!
There are 35,000 Lutheran teens in town doing various charitable works. They all have matching T-shirts, and it's quite funny to see a streetcar full of Lutherans go by, or a hotel lobby full of lime green shirted Lutherans, or just a pack of them coming down the sidewalk.
We have been The Poche Hotel recently. This week our visitors include John's childhood friend, Azby (great name!) who is visiting from Japan with his 14 year-old son, Max. Max is quite brooding, he has long, highlighted hair that completely covers his eyes...he occassionally takes a quick peak out into the world but then he goes right back behind his hair...Azby is a perfect guest; he teaches Architecture at the University of Kyoto and I have an Archie student in the house, so that's a great connection. He is also involved in translating movies into Japanese, and one day this week, John went with him to view The Impostor, a Ben Affleck movie that will be released in September. They got to see it in a private theatre located in a secret warehouse building, this is like summer camp for John and he will be sad when it ends. Last night, we had a dinner party (more like a barbeque technically...) for Azby's friends, who over the years, are becoming our friends, too. Madison and Zeke showed up towards the end of the evening, and after John and I went to bed, they stayed up another hour or two with the grown-ups. That was a first and another little step toward complete adulthood!
Inner beauty is overrated. Yeah, yeah, I know it's whats inside a person that counts, but a porcelain complexion certainly wouldn't hurt!! I pick BEAUTY!

Patty