Ping has performed her magic once again with our home, inside and out.  I left the office early and came home to make sure the girls didn't sleep too late.  Ping was awake and working away.  Cici needed my help to get out of bed.  Just half an hour more, she begged.  But she was up in ten minutes.  I got them to dress and we took Cici to Costco to have her lenses popped into a new set of frames because the frame on the glasses she wore to China had broken on the return trip.  Then we took her to Pappadeaux for a birthday celebration.  She loved the calamari as much as Ping and I love it.

Cici was ready to go back to sleep but I told her we would keep her moving until 9 or 10 this evening and then she can go to sleep.  She was so excited about being home  last night that she didn't go to sleep until 5 this morning.  Ping, on the other hand, went to bed with me and slept until 5 this morning.  She also felt like sleeping but agreed that she and Cici had to stay awake until tonight, so she insisted that she had work to do at home and would not fall asleep, so I took Cici to Target to buy her school supplies.  We had an enjoyable time picking out the notebooks and other items she needed for school.  How did you know I would like these notebooks? She asked when I called her to look at some that she had missed.  Because I pay attention to what you like, I told her.

My cell phone rang while we were at Target.  It was my son calling from New York City where he has worked as an intern this summer for the Swiss Investment Banking Firm, UBS.  This was his last week there before returning to Houston next week and then back to Austin for his final semester of school.  I have my offer letter in hand, he told me.  They extended an offer for me to work for them full time after graduation, he said.  He got this job through sheer hard work.  There were no blue blood connections working behind the scenes for him.  It takes a pretty amazing kid to earn a position at a top 10 investment banking firm right out of college.

I told Cici the news.  I put my arm around her shoulder as we walked through the store.  This is why I always encourage you to study hard, I told her.  If you get a good education, you can do anything you want to do.  You are fluent in two languages and more fluent in English already than probably 75 percent of native English speakers.  This year you will begin adding Spanish to your list of languages.  Your brother is fluent in three languages, with one of them being Portuguese.  Brazil is a hotbed of activity now for investment bankers, but language alone didn't get him to the top.  UBS didn't extend an offer to one of the interns even though he spoke Portuguese as his native language.

Right now Cici is busy calling her friends to catch up on things.  Ping has been working outside for hours, cleaning the beds, watering the plants, and transplanting lariope from one location to multiple other locations.  She loves to work in the dirt around her home.  I walked outside to see what she is doing and she is soaked with sweat but happy as she can be.  It seemed a fitting thing, as I am reading The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck.

You cannot imagine how happy these girls are to be home.  As sleepy as they have been today, it is like they are walking on air.  We got a hot mocha frappe at Starbucks when we were at Target, and that gave her extra energy that is clearly going to carry her to bed time.  You were like a zombie at the airport last night, I chided her, and it was like hugging a tree when I greeted you.  She laughed and came to me and gave me a big hug.  I was so sleepy that I didn't know what was happening, she said apologetically.

All in all I would say it has been a pretty good Friday the 13th.