1. I responded to the former student who sent me a touching email of gratitude for my work as an instructor. From her email, I knew her name is Christine. When I read her name, three memories almost immediately popped to mind, but I wondered if they were reliable. So I wrote back and said that I thought she'd been in a Shakespeare class I taught at the U of Oregon in the summer of 1985. I added that I thought I remembered ordering many cups of coffee and bites to eat from her when she worked the counter at the Kona Cafe on 13th Avenue just west of the U of O Bookstore. I concluded with telling Christine that I thought we had both been in a poetry writing workshop in the early/mid 1990s in Ellen Cantor's living room. (Debbie, by the way, was Ellen's next door neighbor. My first extended conversation with Debbie happened one day when I was on my way to a meeting of this workshop.)
It's not always the case with my aging memory, but, lo and behold, Christine wrote me back and confirmed that she is the person I remembered her to be and that my memories of her were accurate.
She also sent me a couple of pieces of her published writing and I look forward to reading them and responding.
Receiving such kindness and encouragement from Christine and then accurately identifying and remembering who Christine is fills me with wonder and thanksgiving along with joy as I've learned how Christine has worked over the years as a writer, teacher, therapist, nature lover, advocate for the Cowlitz tribe, and in many other ways to live a constructive and transformative life.
2. Cas, Seth, Ginger, and I got together at The Lounge late this morning and fired up the ESPN Fantasy Baseball servers and took part in our two fantasy league drafts. The members of both of our leagues now all have teams put together in both of our leagues.
I enjoy being with Seth, Ginger, and Cas on draft day, enjoy diving into a pizza while I make draft picks certain to fail (!), and look forward to the daily routine of checking my lineups, making uninformed decisions about who to play and who to bench, and hoping against hope that I might experience a tad bit of success.
After all, right now in baseball world it's spring time and for baseball fans it's the time of year when hope springs eternal.
3. Back home, I spent the rest of the day catching up on word puzzles and planning how I'm going to prepare a corned beef main dish for Monday's St. Patrick's Day family dinner.
I stayed in the bedroom much of the time to keep Copper company.
Over the last few weeks, Copper has demonstrated again and again that he wants to be physically closer to me than he ever has before.
I think he's showing signs of some decline that accompanies aging.
I have an appointment for him at the vet on Tuesday, March 18th -- it's time for his annual shots and I'll consent to blood work and listen to Dr. Cook's assessment of how he thinks Copper is doing and what he says the bloodwork shows.
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