I wish I could preserve memories in a Ball jar

My best friend was in town on Tuesday and Wednesday night. He had to attend focus groups that ran until 9:00, then entertain his clients a bit, so these were really late nights. (On Tuesday we didn't even meet until midnight.) We were both dead on our feet and the reasonable thing would have been to just agree that seeing one another this trip just wouldn't work. But we didn't.

After all, who knows how many visits like this we'll have? He really doesn't care for this job. I love him and I want to be happy, so naturally I support him 100% when it comes to finding professional fulfillment. But we both know a new job will mean no more regular business trips to Chicago. I may someday go visit him and his family in Colorado. I'm sure we'll still email and talk regularly, but it won't be the same. Soon enough there will be no more late nights, laughing and strolling up Michigan Avenue. I'm so comfortable with him. I'll miss our time together so much. The trick, of course, is to not let my worrying about the future deprive me of our fun in the moment.

"Mom!"

LOS ANGELES - Screaming and crying, Paris Hilton was escorted out of a courtroom and back to jail Friday after a judge ruled that she must serve out her entire 45-day sentence behind bars rather than in her Hollywood Hills home.

“It’s not right!” shouted the weeping Hilton, who violated her parole in a reckless driving case. “Mom!” she called out to her mother in the audience. -- MSNBC

Is it OK if I find this funny?

Paris Hilton cried a lot in her cell. Paris Hilton developed a rash in jail. Paris can't stand being incarcerated.

Aw ... She's right, this is sooooo unfair! The girls from Compton she was so comfortable making fun of on tape are far more likely to go to jail so they probably are used to the idea! But Paris is special. The idea of prison makes her sad, being there makes her cry and feel all itchy. She's right. Her mommy should get her out of this.

So proud of her

My niece graduated from 8th grade yesterday. I knew that she was enjoying much about this major event in her life: a class trip to Great America, a dance at her new high school, a party at the school she was leaving ... She's been with many of her classmates since Kindergarten (one since preschool) and developed a dedicated posse of good friends (for some reason they all wore superhero capes to their last day -- ever! -- of school). After the graduation ceremony, she and her closest friends were literally the last kids to leave because they were taking pictures of one another in their cap/gown in front of their lockers, inside their "favorite" girls' bathroom, in the stairwell, with their favorite teachers, etc.

What I didn't realize was how terribly IMPORTANT she felt this day was. She showed me her memory book (an 8th grade class project) and saw that she referred to it as "the end of my childhood" and "the beginning of a new chapter." Her writings were very poignant. She wishes she could just stay in 8th grade forever. I wish she could, too.

Each 8th grader was asked to provide a quote that accurately reflected them. I was surprised and quite tickled by her choice. She mentioned that she began to listen to Bob Dylan, but I didn't realize how into him she's become. Her quote was from "Positively Fourth Street":

"I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes/And just for that one moment I could be you/Yes, I wish that for just one time, you could stand inside my shoes/You'd know what a drag it is to see you."

She is smart and witty and curious and perceptive and sensitive and I couldn't be more proud of her.