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Yesterday was a difficult day. It started off ok, but at noon the mail came. I always scan the newspaper for the headlines and obits and then read it more thoroughly in the evening. There was a notice that my friend and neighbor when we lived in St. Johnsbury, Kay Sherman, had passed away. I knew she had been very ill, but still it was a shock.
I had several letters in the mail, two from the same address in Dallas. I opened the long slender one first. It was a photo of young people I barely recognized, but the brief note explained it was the children of my first husband's cousin, and their spouses! I had no idea those two boys were old enough to be married. The last time I'd heard from their mom, Valerie, about the same age as my Bill and Bob, was when Bob and his wife, Theresa, went to Dallas for a football game and were going to meet Val and her husband, Alex. They never made the connection and we lost track. Val's kids were still in school then and playing soccer. I was happy to have the photo, though.
Then I opened the smaller letter, also from Valerie. And there it was. Her dad, our good friend Ken, had passed away. She had received my Christmas card to him. It made us sad to think we wouldn't see or hear from Ken again. He was a really nice guy, and we'll miss the annual catching up via greeting cards. However, his death has established a connection with Valerie that I hope will continue. It would be nice to hear from Val's younger sister, Melanie, too. I have wonderful memories and pictures of the two girls and the three Dimick boys together at Joe's Pond when they were kids. The girls' grandparents owned the cottage where Don and Diane Sherwood are now.
There was another letter from my cousin Dorothy in Niagara Falls, with news about her sister who has had MS for many years; and later an e-mail from my cousin Bonnie in Massachusetts letting me know how her mom, my Aunt Polly is doing after breaking her hip back in November. The news from Dorothy and Bonnie was generally encouraging, but made me acutely aware that we humans are both strong and frail. I spent much of yesterday afternoon with fond memories of family and friends as I responded to those notes and e-mails.
Today is another day, however, and there are pleasant things for me to do. I'm going to mail off copies of "The Blodgett Papers" to the two Blodgett sisters who donated photos and a manuscript to the historical society so we could produce a book of the Rev. Fred Blodgett's historical notations. Later this morning I'll be heading off to present a copy of the book to the Cabot Library, as well. I'm also sending off a DVD, "Cabot Vermont in Photographs" to cousin Bonnie for her mom, and all that is good stuff.
We have ordered an Epson printer for my office, and that went well - now we are just keeping our fingers crossed that it will work with my computer. At least these past weeks dealing with flawed printers and technical (and maybe a few human) incompatibilities has now become more comical than serious. Case in point: Yesterday someone from Sears called to tell us our vacuum cleaner had been "lost" when we took the darned thing in for the annual service checkup just before Christmas, but he said it has now been found and would "probably" be on the truck Wednesday. Fred thanked him and hung up the phone, and then we just laughed. We don't have high expectations, and we are getting along just fine with the old Electrolux we keep to use in the basement. It isn't pretty, but it still sucks - in a good way! Have fun today. I'm going to.
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