Family on my mind

My lovely daughter Megan emailed me today, forwarding a message from her legal assistant that thanked her for always being so lovely to work with. Megan said she told her all the lovely parts of her personality came from her mom. What a great thing for one of my grown children to say! Of course I told her she was lovely--and a flirt--at such a young age that I can't claim responsbility. But I'm glad she feels that way. I love you, Megan!
Kevin and Jenny have been on my mind today. He left on a noon flight for Fort Benning and then on to Afghanistan, and I keep thinking this is the beginning of what will be a very long year for them--and they're only hours into it. He's off to an adventure, however reluctantly, in a world that he understands--I was amazed last night listening to him explain what his life will be like over there. But Jenny is left to wait, and I ache for her. Fortunately she has wonderful family support.
Christian had a birthday today while in Florida. I won't say which one because I think he's getting a tad touchy about it. But I hope it was a happy day--they'll be home tomorrow night, and I'll be glad to have them back in town.
And I've thought about my brother and Cindy picking me up for dinner and how nice it is to be so close to them and so comfortable with them--there were years when we weren't that close, and I'm enjoying what age has brought us. Nothing beats family, and I am blessed.
Hot today. A friend posted the heat index on Facebook--something like 107--and I responded that I prefer to ignore the heat index and just look at the temperature, which is bad enough. I long for the days before anyone knew anything about a heat index. Scooby knows it's hot and has been lounging on his bed all afternoon--when I asked a bit ago if he wanted to go out, he looked at me with one eye like, "Surely you jest." I will have to force the issue soon.
Vacation day: I had lunch with Fred, my mentor, and we talked about  my novel. I fully intended to come home and jump into it, but I'm in the midst of reading a mystery, Indigo Dying by Susan Wittig Albert, and decided I'd allow myself the luxury of finishing that first. I need to get my head out of one fictional world before trying to concentrate on another. But I can feel ideas bouncing around in my subconscious. Things I've read lately on the Guppies (Going to be Published) listserv are there too--specifically about microtension in scenes, whether or not you use adverbs (usually a no-no but British writers use them frequently), and how to tag dialog--if you repeatedly use "said" it gets boring but if you get too carried away-'"exhorted, mandated, commanded, etc."--it distracts the reader. I think I'll go by instinct.