dear blog readers

I wonder if you're hanging on with me this week.

My cousin Tiffany said this week after a death in one of her friends' lives, "My perspective came to a screeching halt."

That's just how I feel. After singing in my good friend Marjorie's funeral, I was finally able to clean my kitchen. I'd been walking in and out of it lately only to throw away take-out wrappers. I couldn't find time to work on my novel or the mental energy to do anything besides think of all that I would do once I got my groove back.

It's not that I've been in despair. It's just that I wanted to sit down and shut up for a while. If death doesn't make you stop and think about life, I'm not sure you're paying attention.

I was going to move on eventually. I was. But then, last night, another phone call - this time from Dad. Another old friend died yesterday. She had a house that stays in my memory as kind of miniature and magical. When we moved away from her, she used to write me letters and include the adventures of her cats, Minnie and Midas, and other delightful things.

I'm very sad. There's been a lot of dying lately, and I just thought I'd go ahead and bring the blog to a screeching halt since that's the way I feel.

I'll be back next week. All full of perspective again. In the meantime, I'm thinking about I-Love-You lists today. People need to be appreciated while they're here. In fact, you can use the comments section for that if you'd like. Just put it into the universe how much you love your grandma's hand lotion or your nephew's laugh. That would be the perfect thing to get life moving again.