A couple of weekends ago, when Mr. Scout and I were insulating the basement, I ran across an ancient cardboard box with my father’s handwriting on the side: “BILL’S TRAINS”. Inside was an old friend of mine: a wooden Montgomery Schoolhouse train set my parents bought for me over time as a child—they were probably as expensive then as they are now. I opened up the box this afternoon to let Finn get her first look at them, and they captivated her for about a half an hour, which is about a year’s elapsed time in her toddler’s attention span.

Thanks, Mom & Dad.