Look Ma, it's 2013!

Kind of weird, but time keeps clicking along....

Let's see.......Dad is moving to Las Vegas to be near his ladyfriend and her pals--this is a good move. He found a geezerville (his words, you know) that he likes well enough, and the apt in SD will be up for sale soon. It's emptied out, and I will have the mirrors from the wall. He's giddy, and Stephen and I are so glad he's happy.

Your granddaughter just finished a Sondheim show (Into The Woods) at the Studio nearby. She's really loving acting and dancing. She's doing pretty well in school, and Mark and Fran and Seth are working hard to make sure that she finds the right college. I think that she's going to love college.

I'm so tired of my job. If I didn't have the boss I have and the pay and benefits, I'd bail. One of the staff lied to Mel today about something involving me, and I'm really hurt. Someone else told me that they thought they were sent to a mandatory training class because they weren't doing their job well--I sent them the info and thought I'd informed them, but obviously I hadn't.

I don't want to babysit anymore. Seth is right that I'd be good at telling people how to deal with people/situations, but only the ones who WANT to be told. Work is so crap right now--one person is probably leaving and there is a person who is the cause of that, but that's all a mess. We have to make some strategic shifts in the department and the staff will be up in arms about that.  We found out that there was a withholding of information that could be very problematic regarding computer systems...there are new processes that will freak out the whole place and I just don't want to deal with it at all any more.

I want time to explore my art. I want to be here at my house. I want to spend time with my old dog. I want to do those things that are meaningful to me. All the day-to-day work crap gets in the way of that, and then there's the family things on top of that. I have to work for the money and the benefits. ACK.

My dear husband is doing so well. He's still losing weight like crazy, just bought a few new clothes. He's working another start-up biz, but in the second fiddle slot which makes it a tiny bit simpler.

I'm going to eat a brownie and go to bed. I love you, mom. Wish I could call you up.

XXOO

April

Hi Mom,

Your granddaughter is tearing it up. She's got the role of Feste in 12th Night. You'd about burst to see her onstage spouting the Bard. She's channeling Tim big-time. Tomorrow, she leaves for a college tour with Tris. They're visiting Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Oberlin, Kenyon, UC Santa Cruz and Mills. I simply cannot fathom that she is almost ready to go to college.

On top of that, she's directing a show for Drama Fest at school. She's got a cast of about 11 to wrangle, with dance and music in the show as well as acting. She's always been good at pushing people around when she needs to (and sometimes when she doesn't), and I think she'll be fine at it.

I'm knitting up a storm again. It sort of comes and goes with me. I should be blocking a shawl right now, but I know it's been a long time since I wrote, so I thought I'd just stop and take a minute.

Dad is really doing well. He's splitting time between Vegas and CA with Shirley. I am reinforcing what he already knows, that you'd want for him to be happy. He misses you terribly, though. That's as it should be. There's no reason that anyone's heart can't hold more than a single person at a time. I do wish he'd come here and see Marion before she floats away to school. I'd really like him to see her on stage, but I don't know if that will happen or not.

Haven't heard from da brudda in a while, but I haven't reached out, so that's on me, too.

Work is still work, I like it and I don't. I really don't want to do this any longer, but I'm really kind of in it for the health care coverage. I promised to support a family when I got one, and I really don't want to go back on my word. I just wish I could magically find something else that would pay and have the same or better benefits level. I'm too lazy to actually make it happen, so I guess everyone will just have to put up with my kvetching. Or not.

OK, no real news other than that of the amazing girlie. I love you, Mom. I'm holding onto the orange threads you left me--now I have orange clothes, an orange phone cover, and orange glasses. I'm glad you reintroduced me to this warm color before you left. It makes me think of you, and it makes me happy.
xxxooo
LYMY