Deep thoughts for your (Ash) Wednesday

1. Guess what?! Martin's birth certificate came in the mail on Monday! My husband took Tuesday morning off to go to the SS office to apply for his number. And, miracle of miracles, we found out that we could appear in person with the receipt the very next day and get a print-out with his number on it. So I packed up my baby and two tag-alongs (my babysitting kids for Wednesday, and yes, their mom had approved this outing) and trekked into the SS office with my entourage and got that number! Just finished our taxes and, with any luck, we will have our adoption credit-enriched refund by early March. Woot!

2. It is Ash Wednesday. I am hungry. And, not surprisingly, craving bread, which I gave up for Lent.

3. Joe and I went to a special screening of Spielberg's "Lincoln" last night at the National Park, in honor of Abe's birthday (don't ask me which one). We saw 80 percent of the movie before we had to leave to pick up the kids. I'm guessing we got the gist of it since we stayed through the passing of the 13th amendment. That seemed to be the focal point. I enjoyed the movie and found myself thinking that C-SPAN would be very entertaining if the representatives argued like those in the film. My favorite character was Thaddeus Stevens, played by Tommy Lee Jones, although I admit to having a hard time not thinking of him as Agent K from Men in Black. Also, the James Spader character! I would NOT have imagined him in this movie, but I loved him! He played a really good shady operative working for the cause of freedom.

I also enjoyed Lincoln himself. I loved the way he was portrayed as the eccentric wise old guy, always with a story or a piece of wisdom from an ancient writer (or mathematician, thank you Euclid). And always plagued by conscience over which course of action was the best for all. Overall, just a great movie.

4. The movie got me thinking, of course, of the history of race relations. And now I wonder how we will introduce this history to our kids. Growing up and reading it myself, I was incensed by the injustice of slavery, but from an outside perspective. How will it look to my children, both of whom would be considered "negro" in that time, no matter how much or how little "negro" ancestry they had? I wonder.