Lasts aren’t something people think about a lot.

First are always important: first steps, first kiss, first job, all those momentous occasions we prepare for and remember, hopefully fondly.

But lasts often pass by without knowledge, and when you go back to think about it later, you’re often not sure when the last was, you just know there was a last. So when you know something is going to be a last, it takes on more weight. It starts to loom in your mind with importance.

I write a lot of letters.

Before my grandmother moved in, I wrote regularly to her, to my other grandmother, and to Michael’s grandmother. After my grandmother moved in, I was down to two letters for a few months, and then began writing letters to my cousin’s grandmother; she suffered a stroke years ago, and became afraid of everything, including leaving the house. So I wanted to bring some of the world back to her.

When my other grandmother died in February, I knew the end was near, but I didn’t know how close it was, so when I wrote my last letter to her, I didn’t realize it was going to be my last.

Now my cousin’s grandmother is failing rapidly, and when I sat down to write this evening, it occurred to me that this could be the last letter I write her. Maybe not. I may yet write her a couple more, but the end is close. Strangely it didn’t make the letter hard to write–I wrote her about my garden and the flowers and color that are everywhere you look–things she can’t see for herself from her room. But signing, addressing, and sealing the letter was strangely difficult.

It feels like there should be more pomp and circumstance, somehow.

V’z fbeg bs (va zl zvaq) jbexvat ba n cbfg ba JI cbyvgvpf, cevznevyl ba Qba Oynaxrafuvc’f vaibyirzrag jvgu JI cbyvgvpf, naq rfcrpvnyyl uvf gvrf gb Fhcerzr Pbheg Whfgvpr Fcvxr Znlaneq. Rkprcg fnlvat gung fbhaqf n ybg pbbyre guna jung V unq va zvaq, juvpu vf ernyyl ubj zhpu V pna’g fgnaq Oynaxrafuvc.

Fb jbaqrevat jung V jnf tbvat gb jevgr, V erzrzorerq gung n pbhcyr zbaguf ntb Reva fnvq fur gubhtug ebg 13 cbfgf jrer xvaqn sha, fb V qrpvqrq, jul abg? Vg’f abg yvxr V’ir tbg nalguvat orggre gb jevgr.

Vs lbh’ir tbggra guvf sne naq qvqa’g nyernql xabj vg, vs lbh Tbbtyr ebg 13, lbh’yy svaq na ba-yvar genafyngbe juvpu punatrf ebg 13 vagb grkg naq ivpr irefn jvgu n pbhcyr pyvpxf bs gur zbhfr. Rira rnfvre vf gur Y337 xrl rkgrafvba sbe Sversbk, juvpu nyybjf lbh gb perngr ebg 13 grkg naq genafyngvbaf ba gur syl.

Be |337 5c34x vs lbh cersre.

Naq ncebcbf bs abguvat: Vf rirelguvat bxnl Gnaln? Jr unq arvgure uvqr abe unve bs lbh va n jrrx naq V’z ortvaavat gb jbeel. Qb jr arrq gb fraq Wvz gb purpx ba lbh? Orpnhfr V’z fher vs nalbar pna svaq lbh ur pna. Be jnf vg gung gur zbbfr fpenccyr svanyyl tbg gb lbh? Naq V pna bayl vzntvar ubj zbbfr fpenccyr vf tbvat gb ybbx bapr V genafsbez vg. UN!

Fb gung’f vg. V’ir tbg abguvat ernyyl, ohg vg qbrf nzhfr zr gb glcr nyy uvf hc naq gura genafyngr vg gb ebg 13.

I heard this song sung by someone else, and it just felt so wrong, I had to hear Margo Timmons sing it.

To live is to fly
low and high
so shake the dust out of your wings
and the sleep out of your eyes

Maybe it’s just me, but there is something about her voice that I fine absolutely perfect.

Oooh! It’s also here (the recorded version) along with Misguided Angel, I’m So Lonesome I Could I Die, and Blue Moon Revisited.

I think I need to pull out my Cowboy Junkie’s CDs.

Dear students who would like to get an assistantship with us.

An inability to have a grammatically clear and correct resume, cover letter, and e-mail is NOT impressive. Failure to understand the basics of capitalization and correct tense, and an expressed inability to look over EVEN ONCE what you have written, drops you to the bottom of my pile.

If you can’t even take care with your attempts at employment, why would I think you would be willing to take care if you were hired?

As I love techno, I found today’s xkcd particularly amusing.

I just installed a new anti-spam plugin.

Please e-mail me if you can’t comment.

I’m sitting at the front desk–one of the GAs is out for a funeral–so I’m sitting here waiting for someone to call and ask a question, or come up to the front desk and ask a question.

Also, walking around every 10 minutes and pushing in chairs, because people are SLOBS.

Anything interesting on the Internet today? That is, anything that won’t get me fired when the librarian turns around to see what I’m doing?

ADDENDUM the First:
HA! WIN!

I just got a call from Tanya in Alaska! WHEEEEEE! Talk about the opposite of boring!

Thanks Tanya, you totally made my day!

ADDENDUM the Second:
No more time at the front desk, NOW I’m waiting for scandisk to finish on one computer so I can run disk defragmenter. Woo hoo!

My cousins’ grandmother, with whom I spent a fair a amount of time when I was younger, since I spent a fair amount of time with my aunt & uncle, had trouble breathing today (she’s been in hospice for several months). She’s been aspirated, and is breathing easier, but I believe we are looking at the final path she is going to take to the end.

Please send thoughts of whatever flavor her way, and for her husband and for my uncle and cousins. They are quite religious, but I’m sure are open to prayers and thoughts of all kinds.

Although she changed after her stroke more than a decade and a half ago, I prefer to think of her as the vivacious, outgoing woman with the amazing sense of humor (as is par for the course in that family!), who raised my favorite uncle.

So my friend Kim is getting married in Wyoming this September, and I’m going to be her matron of honor. (Yes, this means I have to wear a dress. And it’s a RED dress. Try not to faint. [I’ll even take pictures so you can see this historic occasion.])

So Michael and I have been looking online for cheap flights.

And failing miserably.

However, someone stopped by to visit me at work yesterday, and suggested we take the train.

“The train? We have a train system?”

OK, it wasn’t quite that bad, but it just wasn’t anything I had considered. So I looked into it. The prices are comparable, except that I have more than four inches of leg room in the seats, and one can get sleeping rooms, and those come with meals included.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I got. I mean, the train! It makes me think of “Murder on the Orient Express” and “The Wild Wild West” and Cass Scenic Railroad all rolled into one. Of course it’s not going to be like that, but it will be two days riding on the train, with leg room and beds and meals.

How awesome is that?

Plus, it’s TRAIN!

So, it looks like we’re going to be taking the train to Denver, and then driving to Jackson Hole, WY in September. And we’re going to spend one night in Denver, so if anyone is going to be in Denver on 15 September, we’ll be spending the day there, waiting for our train!

Wheeeee!!!!

AKA, What Michelle Is Holding in her Current Blogger Profile.

This image also comes up as one of my random headers.

I do believe my brother got them at the Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild.

Janiece asks if I don’t have something better to do. The answer is, why YES! I DO!

We’re going to see the Harlem Globetrotters this evening!

Like I said before, there are major advantages to living in a small town with a large university.

It’s the final game of Fug Madness: Bai Ling versus Posh Spice!

Get your votes in now–it may be a rout!

And if you have time, you really should go back through and view some of the previous rounds.

Thurs – 5.26 miles
Fri – 6.41 miles
Sat – 1.67 miles
Sun – .76 miles

I didn’t really need to know I was slacking THAT much on the weekends.

I thought it was supposed to be warm and sunny this weekend. Instead it was cold and dreary.

Perfect weather for writing out the checks for our taxes.

Bah.