It is a bright and beautiful day out. The sky is clear and everyone squints against the sunlight bouncing off the newly fallen snow as they bundle their jackets up against the cold. If this were Minnesota, I would half expect to hear Garrison Keiller voicing droning on a monologue about a quirky neighbor of mine. I, of course, would never expect to be viewed as the quirky one.

But this is Connecticut, not Minnesota, yet the gathering of the neighbors fits so well with the tag line of Lake Wobegon. This morning, Miranda is taking the Plus test. The Plus test is administered every year by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. It is a ritual for us since Mairead took her first test five years ago. It is a test for those children that are ‘above average’, to use Garrison’s words.