My new favorite compliment, and also separately, a Confederate flag.

I felt her look up at me.
Your muscles look really good in this light,
she said.

There is no light.
I said.

There's some light!
she insisted.

It's dark.
I said.
There is literally no light. It's nighttime and the only light is from my cellphone.

So...thank you?

A splintered tree fragment gazes up at the sky

REGARDING GENEROUS INTERPRETATIONS.

"Look!"
one of the children said as we drove through a NE Portland neighborhood.
"That person has a Confederate flag hanging up where they live!"

Another child jumped in before I could provide a short 20-minute explanation of the underlying historical context of its meaning dating back to the Missouri Compromise, Reconstruction and MLK, and perhaps it was this knowledge that led that child to jump in quickly and preemptively with a short and alternative explanation, thus ideally saving the car's inhabitants twenty minutes to spend conversing about something else...

The child:

"Maybe they just needed something to keep the rain out and there just happened to be a Confederate flag for them to use, so that's why it's hanging there."

"Yeah."
I said.
"Maybe..."

And then I rewarded their observational skills and insightful questions by enlightening them on the underlying historical context for the next twenty-five minutes.

Do you ever have days where you feel super awesome, like you just did something really...super awesome?

I had a day like that a long time ago; I don't remember when. It wasn't today.