The Three Musketeers take on Atlanta. Or The Three Stooges take on Atlanta. whichever you prefer.

Mama, Mamaw, and I did something bold and daring and fearless today. We left the house at 8:15, (a feat in and of itself, since it's easier to move heffalumps than get us out the door at a decent hour. We're always sprinting back in for "just one more thing!" Call it a curse, call it a talent. Daddy called it a curse. And we still manage to forget things. Oh, well.)

Anyhow, we drove to my brother's in Atlanta today. By ourselves. As in, drove the seven hours from Mississippi to Atlanta without getting lost one single time, without any wrecks, without killing each other, without spilling hot liquid all over ourselves, (though I did burn the skin completely off my tongue drinking my hot tea in a travel mug - yes, I know it's desecrating to the tea to put it in a travel mug, but that's the price to pay for getting out the door at 8:15,) and without any speeding tickets.

Wait.

You don't look nearly as impressed as you should be.

Believe me.

And you know what a trip means for this humble bit of cyber space. A list.

1. I drove from home all the way through Birmingham. And I actually enjoyed driving in four lanes of traffic.

2. Miraculous thing about that is, Mama didn't have a heart attack. Not even a little one.

3. We arrived on the other side in one piece. Ha!

4. I love to play freeze tag, hide and seek, and free-for-all-tackle with my nephews. Because they're the best. (The best, as in, the funniest best. Not the gentlest best. Oh, no.)

5. Mamaw has some killer skills bowling on the wii. She got a strike her very first toss.

6. But far surpassing her bowling skills are her boxing skills. She's got some moves. Her dude totally laid the other dude flat. If she ever needs a part time job...

7. I am really bad at wii baseball. Big surprise, right? Since I'm so fantastically good at regular baseball and all. Stop snickering. Now.

8. I really, really hope that hitting-the-target ability on the wii doesn't carry over into real life. Because Mama and I are dead meat if we have to rely on our shooting capabilities to protect ourselves or feed ourselves. (Not that the last would ever happen, since we would be much closer to digging up roots to eat than hunting wild game, but still.)

9. I notice that this list has a lot to do with the wii. I'm not addicted, I promise. But my darlin' nephews are. (Please, please, if you value my reputation, do not tell either of those little boys that I called them darlin'. To say they wouldn't forgive me for a long time is an understatement. At least, not until I played freeze tag with them.)

10. Nephews are the best. Long distances that separate aren't.

Jacob was reading in Genesis chapter 2 to Jackson, who's 6.

Jacob: "... so, it didn't rain at first in the world. When do you think the first rain was?"

Jackson: "Ummm... 1861?"