On our way home now from camping, one night early. It is 8:40pm and we are an hour into our 4.5 hour trip home. Marshall has already gotten a speeding ticket for blowing though a small-town arbitrary 55mph zone where there was neither stoplight nor another car to be seen. Except, ironically, the police cruiser parked on the other side of that hill, waiting to pounce like a sadistic panther. The reason we've embarked on this self-punishing nighttime journey after a full day in the sun is this: last night Gabe told Gilly a story about bears in the state park. And sleep was over before it began. In his defense, he was just being sweet and telling her a bedtime story, as she'd asked. Unfortunately he is good at suspense. One day this will be all over and we will not have sweet little kids who will sleep together on an air mattress, their little bodies barely making a depression. So to see their little heads together on adjacent pillows, their little sibling selves whispering to each other in the dark...Almost makes up for 4 hours of sleep. Next time I will tell the story.