Dr. Martland

The degree is great and everything, but I still believe the very best thing we got out of our year at Cambridge was a handful of forever friends. Dr. Martland is one who tops the list! He was so good to us when we were living in England with little T--giving us his pears to make baby food, feeding us a huge Thanksgiving feast, offering his living room for T's first crawls and first steps, and especially mentoring James as he navigated his professional and educational career. He visited us in New York when we had two kids and I was pregnant with Quinny, and since then we doubled the lot and he had two new little friends to meet. He was such a good sport about sleeping on our pull-out couch with four little chickens running around screaming (why do my kids like to scream so much?!) and we're so glad he decided to come visit.

My favorite parts of this trip were hearing him tell Everett "Come here Sunshine" when he felt left out of conversations Talmage dominated (Dr. Martland also has an older brother, so they can relate to each other in that way); when he recounted with detail images from Talmage's first birthday that he attended at our little flat at 5 Cheddars Lane; encouraging a grumpy Quinny to come sit by him on the couch and "watch the world go by" out of our front window; seeing his excitement about the studio tour James got him tickets to, especially seeing where Moses parted the Read Sea; and seeing him suffer through Moana for the sake of the children even though it was torture for him! 

James' work schedule was crazy and he had to pull some nearly all-nighters, but it definitely could have been worse and we all felt grateful that they were able to have a nice conversation in the garden on Saturday morning and then lunch with a mutual friend. We love that Dr. Martland and can't wait to see him again (we'll take what we can get, but we wouldn't mind making our way back to the UK!) 

Dr. Martland has written countless papers on Alexander Graham Bell, but that didn't stop Talmage from quizzing him about obscure facts he's learned about the inventor for his 2nd grade biography project. Oh bother! And look at Evie's face--I told you he gets upset about T's talking! 

Ever loves the attention and thank goodness Dr. Martland is willing to give it to him. This is when they're about to watch Moana--hahaha!

To church for us and to the train station for him. Hope you have a great remainder of your trip!