Out of Town

Marnie is out of town for 10 days! She left early Tuesday morning and won't be back until next Thursday late. She has never been gone from us for that long. I miss her something awful and I have a new appreciation for single parents. Even the dogs are on special alert. Satchel barks at everything while Marnie is gone, even the birds. Scout is hanging even closer to me than usual. We are all a little out of sorts without our leader.

Zoo

We went to the Oakland Zoo yesterday for a family outing. We had a great time. Lucy favorite was the marry-go-round that had the cars.

My heart.

Marnie took this great photo.

Looking for elephants.

Grace

W. H. Auden- " I know nothing, except what everyone knows---if there when Grace dances, I should dance."

Anne Lamott- "I understand that Auden meant grace in the theological sense, meant it as a force that infuses our lives and keeps letting us off the hook. It is unearned love---the love that goes before, that greets us on the way. It's the help you receive when you have no bright ideas left, when you are empty and desperate and have discovered that your best thinking and most charming charm have failed you. Grace is the light or electricity or juice or breeze that takes you from that isolated place and puts you with others who are as startled and embarrassed and eventually grateful as you are to be there."

This was in an email my cousin Karen sent me a while back. I had it stored on my desktop in a little note pad. I just found it again. It always, always resonates with me in new ways each and every time I discover it.