You debated whether or not to write this part of the series, because you do not tell all your stories, and those told are often told with a maddening degree of obfuscation.

You could blame it on his glasses; you often do. It is easier for you to point to some unrelated circumstance and say, "This provoked me," when in fact you made your own choices based on criteria known only to yourself.

You would never have told them ahead of time that the prospect of taking kids to the zoo terrified you, and you were glad later that you did not because paradoxically, it was easy, and the clouds were even kind enough to finish their business early enough to allow you time to play outside.

A few hours later you recognize the familiarity of the geeky-auntie role. You have painted Zoë's fingernails bright blue, and in a move that will shock and amuse many of your local friends, photographic evidence of a toddler sitting in your lap (by choice!) has been gathered.

You reassure yourself that O'Hare will not screw you like last time, despite your sub-forty-minute connection. The land on the other side of your second flight is unknown to you, but you get on the plane anyway, recognizing that every airport, every flight, on this trip leaches a little of your individuality away.

Next to last city. Since a week ago today I have been in:

• Huntsville, Alabama
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Detroit, Michigan
• Minneapolis, Minnesota (technically Eden Prairie and St. Paul but who's counting?)
• Denver, Colorado
• Fort Collins, Colorado

I remain here until Saturday afternoon, when we'll switch back to Denver one last time. I fly home Sunday.

I'm in Minnesota, taking a day off. Here's what I've been up to:

• 10:52 PM CT: OMG cheese curds. I am in squeaky, squeaky love. Weather's gorgeous. Hope it's as pretty here in daylight hours.
• 9:30 AM CT: "The other moose are over here." ... -snicker-
• 10:33 AM CT: Minneapolis is Nina Simone and kid photography and sore feet and laughter.
• 10:57 AM CT: @jmcclure Agreed with you. I love @gfmorris but I can't handle his many @ tweets to people I don't know. He knows this. :)

Oh, my dear little librarian. You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering.
- from The Music Man (thanks, Katie!)

Or ...

The cheese dances in the park after the seance.
(Thanks, Rachel. We'll come back to this one in a few months.)