Shores of Avalon

Today I was listening to one of the mix CDs I made for B. Paula Cole's "Hush, Hush, Hush" came on, followed by Tina Malia's "Shores of Avalon," and both these songs are about death and rebirth, and here I was in Tiny's Coffeeshop, writing and looking over at the family inside with me. (I was the first one there when the doors opened at 6AM.) The father works at Tiny's and his wife sometimes comes in and reads the paper while he works. They recently had a baby, and it's been fun to see them excited during the pregnancy and now excited with the addition of their little one (a daughter, I believe). She had her baby with them, and she (he?) was in the lil' carrying thing (can you tell I don't have children? I don't even know what those things are called). The baby was warm and cozy with a cute quilt over her, so she was protected from the lights of the coffeeshop. It was such a touching moment, the music and the baby, and I can't help thinking that I feel emotional--in a good way--as 2008 kicks off. It's been a doozy of a few days. You all know that Austin, the family cat, passed away, and then on New Year's Day, Mom and I were moving Xmas boxes downstairs and she missed a step and fell down and sprained her ankle. We spent a chunk of Jan. 1st in the Providence ER. But Mom's healing well, very quickly actually, and we were both incredibly impressed with the love and care and efficiency of all the Providence staff at the NE Glisan location.

I've been hearing songs, glimpsing moments, catching sights, that are wowing me. Even as I lay on the floor of the NE Fremont Bikram yoga studio on New Year's Day (they have a class to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon every New Year's Day) my sweat and the smells in the air reminded me of sand and beaches and Michigan and summer. It was a truly lovely feeling.

Gretchen -- I just got your email about your accident! Everyone -- my friend Gretchen was just in a car accident. She's doing well, but does have to recover from a broken arm and some other nasty yuckiness. Gretchen -- you are such a giving, warm soul. I am going to call you today and check in with you. Everyone, please keep Gretchen in your thoughts.

Happy Friday,
N

p.s. Speaking of families, I am headed to Bridge City Comics today to pick up the next issue of Buffy. Michael and Kamarin, who run the place, also just had a baby. Michael and Kamarin give off such a trusting, safe, fresh vibe when you go into the comic book store. You can just tell they love Life, love their daughter, and love comic books. I look forward to each visit when I pick up Buffy and Angel, and I get excited to be collecting comics again, the memories flooding back to me of Lemont and AJ Beckert and my huge Dark Horse collection of Alien comics from back in the day. AJ and I used to walk down to the local mini-mart, the one next to the yummy gyro and pizza puff place, and peruse the comics and magazines. My first comic ever? Issue #7 of Excalibur.