Endings and Beginnings

It's the last day of the month, but the first time that little Mckenzie has gotten to see and hold her new baby sister that was born right before noon today. I've just gotten an emailed photo of Mckenzie holding brand new Kylie Marie, who weighed 8 lbs 13 ounces. The last day of January is always going to be special for their family.

The last day of this month was my first day back at the campus. I've been in the Writing Center all day. This photo was taken shortly after 2:00 p.m. and there were few students here because afternoon classes began at 1:15. There was a moment this morning when not one chair was available at a table nor at a computer.

I've helped a half-dozen students with their writing today. This morning for over an hour, I worked with one re-entry mom who was trying to learn to recognize and understand run-on sentences, comma splices, and fragments. At one point she looked at me and said, "Gosh, I really have to look for them. I don't just see them." And I told her, "Me too!" Then I explained that when I grade papers I have to read them for much more than just the message because sentence structure and punctuation are important in academic and professional writing, but my preference is just reading the message.

I also thought a lot today about our friend Trudy. It was 19 years ago this morning at about 5 o'clock that the ring of our phone brought the news that our good friend Mitch, Trudy's husband, had died of heart failure after an early morning game of racquetball. He was 47. The summer previous to that they had moved to Vermont. It was their dream to live on the East Coast. We had been friends with Mitch & Trudy for years. Their two sons are the ages of our two kids. But the test of our friendship was a bicycle journey from San Francisco to home here in southern California that Mitch, Mr. Fun & I did together the summer of 1986. That bicycling "vacation" enhanced our friendship and brought delightful memories that we still savor.

Today Trudy lives in New Hampshire near her youngest son and his family. She's never remarried. She's never quit talking about Mitch like he is with her and still her best friend. My heart hurts when I think about living 19 years without my best friend and the love of my life. Sigh!

It's time to lock this Writing Center to head for home -- a place I long to be. The place where my best friend is -- I can't wait to get there. He's got dinner almost ready.

Good night from Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol