My dad emailed this afternoon to let me know my mom had gone in for unexpected surgery today related to her cancer. After a number of failed attempts I was able to get a hold of him this evening, and it sounds like she’s doing OK. I’m not going to go into the details, but it appears her surgery today was actually to fix some scaring the had resulted from another surgery a few years back. One positive side effect of the surgery is the doctor was able to directly check in on her cancer, and from all indications it has pretty much stayed as it was a few years ago.

So, considering the situation, things are about as good as they can be, I guess.

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Mathias had his first official birthday party on Saturday, and it went pretty well. We had a good crowd–about 25 adults and rambunctious kids–although we ended up completely overstocked in the cupcake department. (Forgetting how freakin’ huge Lund’s cupcakes are, we figured about 1.5 cupcakes per person. Instead, people were cutting them in half.) Mathias seemed to have a good time, too. For the first 30 minutes or so he was kind of like “who the heck are all these people,” but eventually he seemed to get into the chaos.

We let Mathias have at two cupcakes. Result: Lots of laughter, and one extremely wired baby. It proved to be a stupid-parent move in more ways than one, though: One of the cupcakes had chocolate in it, which is a no-no for a child of his age.

Anyway, it was fun, and Lisa did a good job organizing. Photos should be up on Flickr soon.

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After the birthday crowd had cleared out Lisa and I walked Mathias downtown via the Walker. Rock The Garden was in full effect, and the land on which Ralph Rapson’s wonderful old Guthrie Theater once stood was filled by spectators. I wonder how many of them realized that in their arc they were mimicking the seating of the old theater.

Despite active attempts on my part, it may be a while before I get over the demolition. What we had then: The most innovative U.S. theater design of the 20th Century. What we have now: Mini golf.

Fuckers.