Little kid update: My pipe band rehearses at a local middle school on Wednesday evenings. Since we're preparing for a competition, we rehearse in the parking lot.

Today, my youngest (12) and I were standing in the shade near the locked entrance to the school, waiting for band mates to arrive. A soccer team of five-year-olds was practicing in a nice big green space near the school. One of the youngsters needed to use the restroom, so she and her young dad jogged over to the school in hopes that a door might be unlocked. No such luck.

They got to door my son and I were near, and when she saw it was locked, she looked really disappointed until she saw my son and I holding our pipes.

"Can you let me in to go potty when you go in?" she asked, very earnestly. I explained we weren't going in, that we were practicing outside.

"Then why do you have those?" she asked, pointing at the pipes. Well, I said, we practice outside. We're just waiting in the shade for others to get here.

"Oh," she said. Long pause, then she asked, "Are you going to put on a dress?"

That's when her dad said, "Uhhh, honey, we need to get back to practice." He'd turned a wonderful shade of red.