Cat announced to me earlier this evening that she had an interesting homework assignment. She is studying the various phases of matter – solids, liquids and gasses and needed to find five pictures of each matter type.

We decided to scroll through our iPhoto archives before butchering the magazine pile. Cat selected the photos and with each one, my mood noticeably lifted.

Her gasses photos depicted:
- gasses coming off of a volcano Chris and I visited while in St. Lucia for his 40th birthday
- sulfur coming off of fireworks at the Epcot lagoon
- smoke coming off of hot dogs Cat roasted over a campfire during our camping trip this fall
- skywriting of a smiley face on a clear Florida sky
- neon in the lights at Radio City from our trip to see the Rockettes last year.

Her liquid pictures featured:
- Cat on the Slip-and-Slide in our yard
- the geyser spraying at the Wilderness Lodge
- lighted fountains outside of a restaurant we visited
- bubbles from bubbles Cat and Tate were playing with in Williamsburg while our car was being detailed after the unfortunate spaghetti/ice cream/barf incident after visiting Paul’s Deli
- liquid cookie paint from a fabulous dessert at the Artist Point restaurant at Disney

Her chosen solids were:
- a dolphin she petted at Sea World
- our bulldog, Scarlett
- the Littlest Pet Shop monkey Amy, that she earned after a perfect spelling test
- the cookie from the Artist Point dessert
- Cat sitting on Grandma Liz’s lap

Her homework reminded me how fortunate we are. We have had wonderful adventures and we have fabulous memories. Scrolling through the pictures I saw literally thousands of photos of trips (an amazing number to Disney), smiles, hugs, laughs, people and places we love. Our life is an amalgam of solids, liquids and gasses that have combined to create a lot of happiness and love.

And it’s that matter that truly matters.