Continue reading »]]> It’s hard to believe that he’s been gone a year.  I’ve thought of him every day.  I’ve missed him every day.  I imagine that I’ll go on thinking about him and missing him until I join him on the other side.

What is Death?
Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without affect,
without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just around the corner.

All is well.
~ Henry Scott Holland

Continue reading »]]> I don’t know why the anniversary of 9/11 is hitting me so hard this year.  Maybe it’s because I miss Charles.  Maybe it’s because of all the fires back home in Montana.  Maybe it’s even good to remember sometimes.  Anyway, here’s a post that I wrote back in 2008.

******************************

9/11

The anniversary of 9/11 was a few weeks ago.  On that day I remembered how hard Peter Jennings worked.  He was on television the entire day.  He was calm.  He was patient.  He was a rock.

I worked for a cell phone company then.  There was so much confusion on that day.  We didn’t know if there would be more attacks.  If there were, wouldn’t it make sense to attack the headquarters of a communications company? My company sent everyone home just in case.

I thought about what I did.  I remembered what happened.  But I’d forgotten the feelings.

Earlier this week I watched Backdraft.  It’s a great Ron Howard flick about firemen.  At the beginning of the movie there were a few scenes that showed the firemen rushing into a burning building.  The scenes were well shot and very dramatic.

It brought back a memory of 9/11.  People were running from the Twin Towers.  People like you and me were running away from the flames and the explosions.  They were running for their very lives.

At the same time firemen and policemen we running toward the Twin Towers.  They were running toward the flames and explosions as fast as they could go.   Their only thought was to save people like you and me.  Many of them died in the attempt.

In an instant I remembered what 9/11 felt like.  I felt fear, confusion, grief, surprise and outrage.  I also felt gratitude and pride.

Continue reading »]]> Today the Man of the House and I went to the 2012 Rhody Festival Grand Parade in Port Townsend.  We had a great time!

There were classic cars and trucks . . .

Note the passenger pointing a camera at me from this truck.  Were they taking a photo of me while I was taking a photo of them?

There was local royalty . . .

There were many, many bands . . .

There were Steampunks . . . is that the right term?  Maybe Steampunkers or fans of Steampunk . . . .

And there were some things that defied description . . . .

One of the things that we found most surprising was that the parade lasted about two hours.  Two hours!  I need a memory card for my camera otherwise there would have been more photos.  I lost track of the marching bands.  The Port Angeles women’s roller derby team was there.  Yep.  Check out Port Scandalous Roller Derby if your curious.  There were also fun floats and, oddly enough, Road Warriors.  Yes, think Mel Gibson.  It was . . . surprising, a bit alarming and VERY creative.