Bacon, eggs, and a sense of order

It's TAKS week - the state of Texas's mandated testing. It's our second go-round this year. It's all taken verrrry seriously - no after-school activities the day before the test, the day's routine is all switched around. The kids are told to get plenty of sleep, eat a good breakfast.

Don't even start me on these asinine tests, on this whole No Child Left Behind nonsense. The entire system is inherently flawed and our children, our schools, are paying the price of bureaucratic mismanagement.

Yesterday Maddie says, Is bacon protein? Yes, I said. A few minutes later she says, I've been thinking. Maybe I should be asking Daddy this. But they tell us we need a really good breakfast, you know, with protein.

She pauses. Do you want me to cook you something for breakfast tomorrow, I ask.

Yes, she said. Bacon and eggs.

So this morning she came downstairs at around 10 after 6. I was awake but still lying in bed. You don't have to get up and cook for me, she said. No, no, I said, I really don't mind. So I made her bacon and scrambled eggs.

It was all sort of sweet. It's funny how doing such a small thing for my daughter makes me feel as I've moved a mountain. It was so important to her, and I could tell she really appreciated it. In turn, it made me feel good, that I could do this small thing for her.

I love it when the girls leave the house in the morning in a good mood, with everything they need for the day, on time. A sense of order, calmness, serenity. Life as it should be.

All for the cost of four pieces of bacon, one scrambled egg. Would that every day were so easy.