Boxing Ladies

The ladies both enjoy sitting inside a box on occasion. 

Good buns. 

Memorial

Item three: while we were nearby visiting Offspring the First, Beloved Husband and I took the time to visit a few New York locations: in particular, the September 11 Memorial. 

I have always wanted to go. I feel we owe it to the people who died that day, to remember them. 

It was... even harder than I imagined. 

A locus of ghosts.

One of the first visuals is a piece of one of the original buildings, right there by the escalator leading down into the memorial. It is shocking. It brought me right back to that terrible day, twenty-three years ago, but like yesterday, fresh in its terribleness. 

It was hard to look at all of the exhibits. I went through quickly, and escaped to a bench to sit down in the quiet. Beloved Husband took far more time, digesting each bit, but I did not want to become (more) overwhelmed. 

After we looked at the exhibit inside, we went outside to the water features. They really are quite beautiful, and haunting, all at once. There's an urge to walk around the edge of each, to touch each name inscribed there, to acknowledge. To remember. You are not forgotten. 

We will always remember. 

Three

It's been three years since my Small Fry entered Sto'Vo'Kor. It seems hard to believe that so much time has passed. She was the bravest, and mightiest, of tiny dogs. 

Thinking of you, my fine fur friend.  Say hello to all of our other fine fur friends who are with you. Perhaps, with a great deal of luck, we will see one another again someday. 

It's Been A Bit

 Well, gentle reader, we started this Journey together on June 8, 2009.  It's been a lot of water under the bridge since then.  I know the past year and a half has been particularly difficult, too, and that words have been sparse.  I'm grateful that you, and I, have persevered over all this time.

It's been quite the journey.  let's see where we go next. 

Visit

 Item two: Beloved Husband and I visited Offspring the First and her Beau.  They are doing well.  It's nice to see them together -- they seem so happy, have such nice communication, and seem so happy with each other.  It's refreshing, in this jaded world, to see.  I hope that they continue to grow and flourish together. 

Thirty-fifth

Item one: I recently attended my thirty-fifth college reunion.

It seems absolutely impossible that so much time has passed since I graduated from college. So much water under the bridge. 

I saw my roommates from that time. Such lovely women, so kind and warm and witty and thoughtful. I feel that I am undeserving of them -- why should they be so very kind and warm to me? Who am I? I am nobody. I am History. 

To experience affection from someone, due to shared history and experiences from thirty-five years ago with little contact in the intervening decades, is an odd thing. Yet on the other hand, it felt so natural to me, to want to hug them and spend time with them and be near them. I am extremely fond of them. They are genuinely marvelous people. I appreciate them so much more now, than I did in my youth. 

And to love them is, in a weird little way, to also love the me that I once was, thirty-five years ago. That me does deserve a little love, after all. She was underloved by me back then. 

I do need to see these lovely women more often. I should make it a mission, to let them know how much they mean to me now. Because life is short, and people should know that they are important. 

The world needs a little more love in it. 

Bridge

Well, it's been QUITE A WEEK.

At first I could not decide whether I should go through all the things step by step, in one post; or parse it little by little, in multiple little posts.

I've decided to do bullet points here, and then I'll fill in details as time permits over the next several days. For I am so behind on everything, I am practically paralyzed by inaction due to the so many things to do. 

And so: in the past two weeks, these things have transpired:

* I attended my thirty-fifth college reunion (help, I'm old)

* Beloved Husband and I visited Offspring the First (she looks great, in all possible senses of the word)

* We also visited a few scenic spots in New York City while we were adjacent (one moving and difficult, one lovely)

* The return trip to the desert was tarnished by a weather delay that resulted in being trapped in a distant portion of Texas for far longer than anticipated, including a hotel that was possible the most... appalling that we have ever encountered (aka the "Hot Sheets Motel")

* The level of relaxation upon our return was distinctly marred by one of the rabbit's sudden descent into serious illness, which necessitated an urgent vet visit and near-constant hands-on care with multiple medications and hand-feeding for several days (until his appetite returned and he turned into a ball of wrath and feet)

* Another urgent matter of a relative required intensive conversation and attention coextensively with the return trip and the rabbit care (we do what we must for the people we love)

* Mother Nature looked at all this and said, now's a good time for you to start having hot flashes (BRING IT ON) 

That's the story, in a nutshell. 

So many things.

I... am tired. 

One thing at a time.