Sonnet 87

I think I have to start writing sometime.  And I know I need to write about the things I had been meaning to write about before my grandmother died.  Among the writing tasks were the 2007 book awards, the last book list of 2007, my resolutions for this year, and my review of last year.  I know, I know I need to start doing that, and I promise I will to all of my (four) readers.  Because of multiple things going on in addition to the loss of my grandmother, posting has not been tops on my list, but I’m hoping for a change this weekend (long weekend, at that).

I do want to stop and thank IP for all his support, though.  I haven’t mentioned it on this blog, but he’s been nothing but wonderful since we got the news that my grandmother was dying.  I can’t imagine a stronger shoulder to cry on or a better listener.  I always thought that finding the right guy meant feeling like he was my family, not just my boyfriend.  IP achieved this long, long ago, but I have to say that I feel pretty lucky to have him, especially now.  Thanks, hon.

In the past couple of days, I’ve come across two things that have strong associations with grandmother and I can’t tell you how happy I am to have them.  One is a gold ring that she bought me a few years ago; it’s absolutely beautiful and I promise to start wearing it more often.  Another is a rosary that she sent me one year my mother was visiting; I picked up the rosary from my door and held it tightly, just smiling.  It was nice to hold something that I knew she had held.  These tokens of her were reassuring; I keep on saying she’s definitely not forgotten, and having these two things in my possession, now that I’ve left my parents’ house and now that she’s gone, made it feel like she’ll always be here in some way, even in DC.

As the weeks have gone by, funny things have slipped into my mind that I haven’t posted only because I’ve been distracted by all the family going-ons and life in general.  In order to end this post on a cheerier note, and to somewhat segue into my more mundane posts about books, awards and resolutions, here are a couple of things I’ve noticed:

• Starbuck’s new “skinny” latte.  I am considering suing since I posted about creating this drink a year ago on Thursday.
• Metro’s new 6000 series cars (or whatever—I can’t be fussed to look them up).  I’ve been seeing these cars on the Orange line for nearly a month, so when I saw the big old stickers advertising them on the windows (to better serve you!) two days after the fare increase, I was tickled by Metro’s lame attempt to visually justify the fare increase.  Sure, it’s a necessary increase and I’m not upset by it (not really unless I’m delayed—then I’m pissed), but this half-hearted attempt at immediate gratification (and justification) was pathetic.  We’ve noticed, Metro, thanks (and some of us have been stunned, stunned by them!).

Okay, that’s all I have for now.  Hopefully I return to a good posting schedule this weekend.