Message received at 6:02 pm

"It says Bridie, Sarah and something....please leave a message".

"Just hang up. It's the message machine".

"Hhhh-Hiiiiii, Bridie. It's us. Me and Dad. We were just wondering if you were home. Thank you. (cutest little I'm such a big boy and so pleased with myself giggle you ever heard) ".

The not so cute part. They had already reached me at work on my cell earlier in the evening before I got the message, and although I got about five minutes of polite conversation, along the lines of,

"How's school?" "cool" "How's grandma" "cool" "How's Sam"? "Good" "How's Boo?" "Bad" (she wasn't bad, he was just messin with me), it deteriorated rapidly when I made the mistake of asking him,

"Guess what I did today?".

"Ummm......did a crap".

And what the hell are you supposed to say to that?