Contemplation

I am finding myself in a quiet place in my head right now. I am contemplating the death of a friend, not terribly close, but he was a gem of a man, so sweet, funny, a great husband and father. There was so much life in him, that his sudden departure is leaving a lot of us around him, breathless with the shock. I don't have to make sense of this, death doesn't have to make sense, it just is. I know why he died, medically it makes perfect sense as well. What doesn't make sense is why him, why now. Why didn't death stop for the drug dealer, the child molester, the murderer? Why take such a wonderful person and leave behind those causing so much damage? That's an age old question, without an answer, because as I said, death doesn't have to make sense, it just is, and it is inevitable. Before our friend died, I'd been thinking about death for a few days. My thoughts and his death were totally unrelated. I remember thinking at the time, "why am I dwelling on death?" Is something about to happen, am I sick? Then I decided it was just me slowly becoming acquainted with my own mortality. I am realizing that I am in the last half of the book of life and death is now not just some distant thing that will happen, it's now gaining on me. Oh I realize I am probably decades away from it, it's just now becoming a real presence in my life. I am no longer young, immortal, carefree and too busy to contemplate the big picture. So I am sitting in my head, thinking, wondering, watching the horizon, looking out for death.

Caught on tape

My sister-in-law caught us on tape in the Letterman audience.  

Melanie is in the purple shirt and my orange shirt looks yellow next to her.

Trip to Bountiful

We went to see Trip to Bountiful tonight, starring Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams.  The acting was wonderfula and Ms. Tyson was funny and moved like a much younger woman.

Honeymoon in New York City

Whee!  We got to watch a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.  Tom Selleck was the guest. It will air Friday night.  We were sitting in the left section of the audience, on the aisle, toward the back. See if you can pause it when it airs and find us.  I was wearing an orange t-shirt.

For CK

The library of the St. Florian Monastery in Austria. Photo: Getty Images

It's official!

We pulled off a surprise wedding last night.  I had to keep quiet about it on the blog so friends who read my blog wouldn't find out.  We invited everyone to a pig roast and then surprised them with a wedding in the middle of it.  It was so much fun!

Journal

I've been totally wasting time today while my students were doing a written assignment in class. Instead of grading other papers while I waited, I kept going through my blog and looking at old posts. I need to find a way to preserve my blog electronically, maybe on a jump drive so that I can keep it for my kids. I've decided it's like my personal journal, a record of the things I did, the way I felt about things, and the people I connected with through my blog. Sadly, I'm not posting as much as I used to, and some of my favorite people, Tshmom, Great White Bear, are no longer blogging. Others I have just lost touch with, DeBambam, and thankfully others who have stopped blogging, I am friends with on Facebook, Michelle, and Melody who still posts occasionally. I have been wondering lately if the blog has served its purpose for me and if I should just shut it down, but then I think, I still want to keep in touch with Naomi, CK, Trish and Wunelle. I still enjoy reading other people's blogs, even if I don't comment very often or very much when I do (CK). The thought of stopping entirely also makes me sad, it's like a chapter has closed, but I don't know where the next chapter is. So, I will keep writing, if only sporadically. I will keep reading, regularly, and maybe even comment on occasion. I don't know if I need to take this blog in another direction, or what. So bear with me through my absences, and then maybe, a sudden burst of writing before I drift off again. I'm still figuring out where I'm going.

NASA'S LADEE LUNAR LAUNCH

Last Friday night we went to Assateague to have a bonfire and dinner on the beach with friends as we awaited the launch of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft at 11:27 that night. I've only seen a few launches in the daylight, so this was my first nighttime launch. It was AMAZING! It went off exactly on time, a half circle of orange lit up the sky at the horizon and then the rocket appeared out of that half circle. We watched as the rocket separated from a couple of its booster rockets and then arched over us and flew out over the ocean. It will go around the Earth a few times as it sling shots itself to the moon for armospheric tests. I didn't take my fancy camera with me so I snagged these shots off of Google. The launch shot looks pretty close to what we saw and obviously the other is a shot of the rocket prior to launch so far as I can tell. Another cool thing about this launch is that they recycled ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and used them for a peaceful mission.

My current moment of zen

I had never heard of Avicci before my friend posted this video on Facebook, but since she has, I have been listening to this over and over.  I love it when a piece of music speaks to me.  That's magic.

Okay, I don't know what Blogger is doing.  It's placing and showing the video link when I'm in edit mode, but then it's not there when I publish.  *sigh*

Here's the link if you want to go see it:  

Wake Me Up

My current moment of Zen

I had never heard of Avicci before my friend posted this video on Facebook, but since she has, I have been listening to this over and over.  I love it when a piece of music speaks to me.  That's magic.

Wake Me Up

Playing the waiting game

The next time you have to wait for a repair guy, who says he will be there "bright and early" for a three day repair job, check his definition of bright and early. When he wasn't here by nine, I called and was assured he was loading the van and would be here by ten. It's almost eleven. I wonder what time zone he's operating under. He's only coming from 5 minutes away, so it's not like he's stuck in traffic.  

Since I have to wait for him, I couldn't go to yoga today.  Never being one to sit idly by, I did dishes, cleaned the knick-knacks on the porch, put up new ones, did a plaster repair job in the stairwell (waiting for it to dry so I can sand and paint it), disassembled and cleaned the light in the front entry, blogged/griped about it, and now I'm going off to fold laundry.  Guess it was good I got up bright and early.