I swear, I feel as if I have never slept. Never, not once since 1953.In the world of news, I am personally deeply grateful that the damn has held. Taunton, Mass., described in all the news stories as "a working class town", which I suppose it is, is a place that holds a great many of my childhood memories. The impending disaster made me think: will my grandparents' house, built in 1830, survive the flood? My aunt and uncle's home, where I spent every vacation aged 7 through 17? Taunton was my father's birthplace, an old city with a charming downtown area, stores surrounding the village green. My immigrant grandfather managed Dana's Furniture -- long gone now, I know -- all through the Depression and until he died in 1955. I'm told he would stand in the doorway and greet every single passerby by name. I can picture my father as a boy walking along the banks of the rivers there with his friends. So I'm keeping the good thoughts for Taunton.
(Of all the stories I have ever learned to tell from memory, my favorite and the one I am most likely to pop out with at a moment's notice is "The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was In It", which is one of The Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg. "And the last in the procession were the Sleepy-Heads. They were smiling, and glad to be marching, but their heads were slimpsing down and their eyes were half-closed ... or more than half-closed. They were the Sleepy-Heads, the last of all in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle.")
My nails are done, I've eaten dinner (potstickers, yum) and I've pre-ordered the munchkins, which I'll be leaving to pick up in about twenty minutes. When I get home from the Coffee House at 10:00, I'm going to settle in for a nice hour of Lost, which ought to keep me awake until 11:00 anyway. But the best part is that I couldn't figure out when I can fit in my two remaining snacks for the day -- one while I'm watching Lost -- and I realized that instead of cheese or yogurt, I can have a skim latte! Super YAY! So I'll grab me one of those with those little munchkin thingies.
And I'm posting, which I really didn't think I'd get to, but here we are. Have a great time at Journalcon, you guys!
