Friday Night Wrap-Up

Today was the kind of day that always puts hope in my heart. It was clear and bright and warm enough to sit outside and feel the sun seep through my sweatshirt and give me a hug. It was the first day in what seems like forever that I could eat lunch on the patio. The grass was cut for the first time of the season earlier in the week, and the combination of the shorter grass and several sunny days in a row dried up most of the mud. That meant I could toss the ball for Levi and Gimpy while I ate my cheese and crackers. I did, they loved it, and as easily as that, we slipped back into our warm-weather routine. Our world once again sits straight on its axis.

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In another first for the season, Gimpy grabbed a lizard off the fence as soon as I let the dogs out. It's been too cold for lizards, but the sun must have baked some life back into their little green limbs today. I wasn't sure Gimpy had actually caught anything until a few minutes later when I saw him and Levi standing nose to nose, muzzles pushed close to the ground, tails wagging. When Levi pawed at the ground, I knew they had something, so I walked out there to see. Yes, it was a tiny lizard, standing as tall as it could on the tripod of its hind legs and tail, its mouth wide open, threatening to bite them. Bless its deluded little heart; they weren't worried. I told them to leave it and they did. I hope it lived through this first warm day.

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My homework assignment for the most recent Life Writing class is to decide on the "highlight" of my life and write about that. I worked on it most of the day, but it's getting too long, and I can't explain the significance of the event unless I tell the story from beginning to end. I finally decided to stop where I was and sleep on it overnight. Maybe tomorrow I can figure out how to cut it. Even if I do manage to make it short enough, it's not a story I'll post here on a public blog. Well, not right now. Maybe eventually. First I have to outlive somebody.

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My Aunt Shirley called last night to tell me that she reads this blog all the time and enjoys it, especially when I write about the family. That made me happy. Shirley's into genealogy, too, so we talked about our shared ancestors for a while, then we talked about her late mother (my grandmother), Audrey. Audrey, the mother of nine children, was an aspiring writer. If I remember correctly, she submitted some of her stories for publication, but I don't believe she ever had anything published.

At one point several years ago, Shirley collected all of Audrey's handwritten stories and transcribed them. Shirley's sister, Nina, mailed copies of all those stories to me. My first thought when I read them was how much fun Audrey would have had if she'd lived in the era of blogging. At that time Shirley planned to compile all those stories into a book, but she told me last night that she's given up on that project to make time for writing her own life story.

I asked Shirley's permission to set up a blog for Audrey's stories, and she thought that was a good idea. As soon as I finish these classes and all the homework that goes along with them, I'll get started on that. We both think Audrey would enjoy getting her stories out there for others to read, even if it happens 26 years after her death.