It looks like a clothing store exploded in my office. Our small town, as it turns out, is playing host to several families of Katrina victims. They are in need of clothes, toys, household goods, you name it. I have been trying to go through the boxes of AJ�s old clothes and toys and my own closet to see what we can part with. We�ve given money, but it feels good to DO something too. They need bodies to help and I hope to be one of them, if AJ can tag along too.

I keep reading over their wish list: Linoleum floor tiles, electric stove, hot water heater, curtains, cabinets, blankets, towels, vacuums, baby bottles clothing, lamps, fans. The things they need are so mundane. It is so easy to find these things around our house, extras that we won�t even miss. But I also notice the omissions � do they need toys? Books? Any of those things that make a place feel more like home?

And I keep wondering how they ended up here. We�re so far away from there and far away from the city too. What an odd way to arrive at this place. How far they have come.

AJ and I put some things in bags this afternoon. He is having trouble parting with his old toys, even though many of them he�s never played with. But I also think he understands that these kids don�t have toys or clothes or any of the things he takes for granted right now. 4 year olds are not inherently generous creatures, but I�m hoping he�ll help. We�ve at least boxed up some of his outgrown clothes and shoes.

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AJ started school today. He woke up this morning all excited. He and his dad played school while I was out for my run. He took a test and got an A.

I took my shift when I got back and we learned about negative numbers. He has a chalkboard in his room and we had been using it to countdown the number of days until school orientation, which was Wednesday. He looked at the board this morning and asked, �If it was 0 on Wednesday, what is it now?� So out came a piece of paper and a pencil and we drew a number line and practiced adding and subtracting along the line. And we wrote -2 on the chalkboard.

At real school, he found his nametag on the carpet � an apple�and was excited to discover that he was sitting next to his friend N. But then he discovered that it wasn�t actually his nametag. There is another little boy in his class who has the same name and goes by the full version of it. AJ uses a nickname and his real tag had the nickname on it. His real tag was not next to N. He was crushed for about five seconds until he met the boy sitting next to him, who turned out to be a boy he�d met at a playground this summer and with whom he�d played for a good hour and a half and talked about for weeks afterwards.

AJ�s class this year has 18 kids and 12 of them are boys. This discrepancy in numbers was reflected by the toys dragged out onto the floor upon arrival � dinosaurs and cars outnumbered dolls by 3:1. I hope his teachers are getting battle pay.

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