Couple of thinkers...

10 December 2025: Rosy cheeks from the start...

Paperwork day...

9 December 2025: Today has been a "paperwork day." Sending lots of emails (for this NEA grant application), grading, and doing what needs to be done to onboard the new admin assistant supporting our NWP site. Trying to get everything done that I can get done before leaving town. It's stressful, but also soothing...and a decent distraction. 

Dad at 18...

8 December 2025: Just look at him!

"The Stone"

7 December 2025: 

"...she dreamed that she had entered a new episode of time, in which she and the stone would become the same through the endless repetition and decay of all things in the universe. Molecules that had existed in her body would be joined with the stone’s molecules, over and over in age after age. Flesh would become stone and stone become flesh, and someday they would meet in the mouth of a bird."

Couldn't have made a better choice of what to listen to on my walk today than Karen Russell reading Louise Erdrich's "The Stone" on The New Yorker Fiction Podcast. 

Saturday...

6 December 2025: Three things on my social calendar today.

1) Shepherdstown Christmas Parade this morning. Fun and sweet as always, though I found myself more emotional than I expected. Everything beautiful and sweet seems so fragile right now.

2) Women's basketball game this afternoon. They lost but they fought hard. And, as I said to Amy, they really seem to like each other, enjoying playing with each other even when the score doesn't go their way.

3) Yet to come, but starting soon: hosting Rachel and Carrie for a pizza and a movie.

Grateful for this community that I get to live in. 

Last day of the semester...

5 December 2025: I can't write about it--too many emotions--but both of my classes gave me cards at the end of class today, packed with lovely messages of thanks and support. 

Time and again, the privilege of teaching these students almost knocks me over. 

"Angel Baby"

4 December 2025: Letting music do the work for me for another day. 

"It's just like heaven, being here with you..."

"Teach Your Children"

3 December 2025: Can hear him singing along with this one when I close my eyes...

Day one...

2 December 2025: Made it through the first 24 hours without him. Spent the day with colleagues, students, and the gang at trivia. 

Everything is so hard and sad.

But so grateful for work that means something and that makes me happy. So grateful for the kind people I spend every Tuesday evening with. 

Blessed, blessed, blessed.  

Dad...

1 December 2025: I am maybe three years old. I am walking through a parking lot at a strip mall, blinking up into the sunlight and looking at my dad. I reach for his outstretched pinkie and wrap my tiny fingers around it. He’s got me and I feel safe and loved. 

Love you, Dad, so much and forever. 

I remembered it...

30 November 2025: Thinking about this post and this conversation today. 

Love that man so much. 

The bin has one job...

29 November 2025: In these strange and sad days when I am sticking close to home, spending lots of time on my own, and embracing any source of comfort, it's not surprising that my daily posts are cat-focused. Anyway, here's Jo doing something she does every time I open the linen closet to put something away. At one point, I kept stuff in that fabric bin, but now it's there just for her to do this. 

Lights...

28 November 2025: Over the course of hanging the Christmas lights today, I stopped and talked to all three of my siblings about our dad's condition. Later in the day, Jeff organized a conference call. It was comforting to all talk together, but my goodness: the reason is so sad. So yeah...another hard day. 

I can't imagine putting up any decorations this Christmas except these lights and I can't imagine not putting up these lights. All of that makes sense in my heart and my head. 

First year with the new landscaping and you can really see the lights so much better now. That makes me happy.

Jojo taking a peek here.

Every time my dad sees pictures of my lights, he says, "I like the colored lights." Just another way I am my father's daughter. 

Thanksgiving 2025

27 November 2025: A very muted Thanksgiving, but nicer than I could have imagined even 24 hours ago. Erin, Eric, and the girls came over and we had the Alma Bea catering that I ordered back when we thought our parents would be with us, too. It was so good, but also sad that they weren't with us. 

But those kids? They make things better. (Jo helped, too.)

"Our Real Work"

26 November 2025: Just came across this Wendell Berry poem and somehow it fits the moment, especially after another day filled with not knowing what to do or which way to go. 

Poetry continues to show up for me, blessing after blessing...