Good times comin' ...

I received this email two days ago:

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Greetings from your past. In the fall of 2005, you agreed to receive this message, which has been preserved for a year in the Forbes.com E-Mail Time Capsule. For more details, visit http://www.forbes.com/capsule

Here is the text of your message:

Just finished putting Emily to bed (it's Nov. 6 2005 just in case it doesn't say). She just started running everywhere the past few days, really funny to see her legs move without bending her knees. Leslie is enjoying her new sewing machine, and I love my new ipod video. Just to see if my plan works, I'm saying we'll get pregnant next August, 2006, having our next child May of 2007 (and hopefully I'll be a principal by then). I wonder if these things will truly happen.... Cya then!
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I remember the time capsule, but to be honest, I don't remember writing any of this. I guess I wasn't too far off (except the year off for Benjamin..), but thought it was really cool to be emailed by myself from the past.

Anyway, I'm up and getting ready to pack for our trip today. Ryan, Holly, Leslie and I are heading to Tulsa for the marathon tomorrow. I can't wait to see how I do, since I haven't run in about a week, and the other three are doing the 6 mile. The biggest concern I have at this point is not the 26 miles, it's the checkout time from the hotel at 1:00PM... Since I start at 8, and assuming I can get my run done in about 4 hours, I should have time to get back and get a shower. If something goes wrong, however, it could be one stinky ride home...

I'm also not real excited about leaving the kids, but as bad as I am, I'm not quite sure if Leslie is going to make it without Ben this long. I've been noticing it the past couple of days, and yesterday when she started asking me when we were coming home I knew it was bad. I told her we'd probably eat lunch or something after the run before we came back, and she quickly told me there would be NO movie, that would put us over the 24 hour mark without being home. Yup, that bond is pretty strong :)

Anyway, not much else lately. Emily was the "leader" yesterday at school, and apparently had a great time doing it. Leslie walked by and saw her sitting on a yellow square while everybody else was running around and playing, and thought she might be in trouble. She came back some time later, same thing. She popped her head in and asked the teacher if she had done something, she replied "No, that's the leader seat, and she just won't leave it." She was completely content resting on her throne :)

Last night Leslie read at Barnes and Noble for a crowd, which was a lot of fun. Emily did great sitting next to her, but boy did I see a different Emily then. It's standard practice that when we go anywhere, if Emily sees anybody, or if I see anybody, she'll hold back before speaking to them. She doesn't completely bury her face or go nuts, but she's pretty tentative... Not last night..

When we hit the door, she was greeted by three of Leslie's students, and immediately left me to go hug and say hi. Without even looking back they all ran off toward the back of the store. Once I got back there, Emily was already seated next to Leslie to start the reading. As Leslie read the book, Emily would look out into the crowd, wave her hand, and mouth "HI!" to various people. When Leslie was finished, Emily got up, and went down the crowd hugging and waving, like a little celebrity. I now see how the next 10 or so years are going to develop, and I'll tell ya, I'm not real excited :)

Now remember Emily, I'M your best friend... right?