Alison tagged me!

Alison, a Kindergarten teacher from SC whose blog I just discovered through Friday Feast, has tagged me. I'm going to cut and paste the rules just as they appear on her post. (And I encourage you to check out her blog. Scroll down a little and you'll find a funny/cute photo of her mother -- the kind my mom would KILL ME for posting!)

The Rules: “Each person posts the rules before their list, then they list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to other people and then visits those peoples’ sites and comments letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come read the post, so they know what they have to do.”

1. I've never read one of the most influential books of my life, Charlotte's Web. My mom read it to my older sister and I, a chapter a night, one night in my sister's bed and the next night in mine. To this day I cannot kill a spider, strictly adhering to "catch and release," and found myself emotionally opposed to the use of rat poison in my condo building's courtyard. It was just one rat, and what if he was like Templeton? (I lost that battle.) Most of all, I aspire to being, as Wilbur said of Charlotte, "a good writer and a true friend."

2. My niece, enjoying a magic summer between grade school and high school, is, as we speak, wandering around wearing a cape and necktie and carrying a wand. She and her posse are enjoying all the village-sponsored Hogwart's activities until dark, when one of her friend's moms will pick the girls up and take them to Border's for THE BOOK. She didn't expect to see me, waved wildly and hugged me. I suspect that this is a special time -- for once she gets to high school she won't be so into a book launch, nor so willing to hug her old aunt in public. I'm so glad I got to see her today. As the Grinch would say, it made my heart grow three sizes.

3. I have three cats -- Charlotte, Reynaldo and Joey. All shelter babies, each with a most individual personality. Joey is the most aptly named. Friends was required viewing back when I got him and so he's named for Matt LeBlanc's character. A dumber, sweeter and more enduringly charming cat than my old Joe has never lived.

4. I am a news junkie. I can tell you MSNBC's an CNN's evening lineup with great accuracy. I get online news updates throughout the day. I don't know why I do this, since I seldom find the news very happy these days. But I worry that something may happen that I don't know about!

5. I consider myself spiritual, belong to a church, and go sporadically. But we have a new minister (OK, it's been 4 years now, so I guess he's no longer new), and I still haven't taken to him. I don't know if it's because he's so relentlessly cheerful that I doubt there's much intellect going on behind his eyes, or because he's so young it makes me uncomfortable looking to him for guidance. I miss my former minister so much. He wasn't a very charismatic speaker, but he was so smart and wise. Plus his name was (no shit) Reverend Deacon, which cracked me up.

6. Politically I'm liberal, but I prefer the word "inclusive." I am fortunate to have friends of different faiths, ethnicities and sexual orientations in my life and since I know what terrific, loving human beings they are, I'd love to see them better represented.

7. I love books. One of the most beautiful books I've ever read is "In Cold Blood." Yeah, I know. You don't usually see the word "beautiful" and the story of a mass murder in the same sentence. But Truman Capote took that true-life event and made it about destiny, doing it with gorgeous prose. Really. If you haven't read it, don't be afraid to.

8. This all makes me sound so high-brow and la-de-dah. Nothing could be further from the truth! Right now I'm reading yet another book about Princess Diana. I loved Jenny McB's TT about farts. I can be the trashiest gal you've ever met.


I'm tagging these people, but that doesn't mean they'll respond. I'm off to comment them to let them know:


Sparky the Duck

Book Mama

Mo

Kwizgiver

Jenny McB

Izturis sent to Pirates -- and I'm not happy

All we got in exchange for this shortstop was cash and that ever-popular "player to be named later." With Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot, there was just no way he was ever going to get much playing time with the Cubs. Apparently this led to whining, and Lou Pinella doesn't seem to cheerfully endure whining.

So why aren't I happy?

Not quite a year ago, Cesar Izturis was such an important key to our future that we traded my beloved future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux to the Dodgers, just to get him.

Of course, that was the future as envisioned by Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker. We've got a new sheriff in town, and his name is Sweet Lou.

No longer riding on the merry-go-round

My favorite John Lennon song keeps running through my head. I love my best friend. I miss him terribly. When I don't hear from him, everything kinda shuts down. I get scared, anxious, lonesome. My focus isn't as sharp. I worry and I hate it.

He is leaving Los Angeles and returning home today. His wife and kids unexpectedly joined him on the trip to LA. Apparently it didn't go well. Things are "rough" right now between him and his wife and he feels stretched too thin.

I am so sorry to hear that! A child of divorce himself, nothing means more to my best friend than providing a stable environment for his girls. But I can't ask him anymore about what's going on at home -- it's not my business. And I can't keep hurting like this. As John Lennon sang, "I just have to let it go."

I'm not going to stop caring about him. That's not possible. And I won't stop missing him. But I have to let go of all this intensity. I cannot control the outcome of anything of this, so I just have to be patient and hopeful. I just have to wait. I just have to let it go.

"I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round. I just love to watch them roll.
No longer riding on the merry-go-round. I just had to let it go."