wisdom of edith and ali.

the last days of the last weeks have been inordinately sluggish and hard, with of course delicate moments of joy sprinkled in. as edith wharton says on the last page of her autobiography (which i just finished yesterday on the A train)... "though the years are sad, the days have a way of being jubilant."

and just now i was hit with a whole WAVE of jubilation, on the receipt of an email from dearest friend ali, who informed me that she has an interview for grad school at yale (!!!) at the end of january, and finally - after more than a year - we can see each other again.

i immediately gchatted her and we shared our excitement. when after a glorious exchange i heartily declared "oh, life is so good!" ali wisely responded...

ali: look at that
toni
maggie
mel
britt
famdam
and ali
not half bad
me: not halfbad indeed

and there you have it - the list of everyone i will once again share company with before the end of january. despite the acute difficulty of the last month (heck, the last 3 months more like - ever since coming back from berlin life has been a bit off...), i have a whole lot of goodness coming to me in a very very short time. ali summed it up perfectly. i think i need to write this list down and keep it tucked in my non-existent-pockets-since-i-always-wear-dresses, just to be pulled out at opportune moments and remember all that is good in life.

i have really wonderful friends. and a really really wonderful family. and on top of all that, a really wonderful german. even if they are all mostly abstract and digital these days, they're still there. and we still love each other. and i'll get to see ALL OF THEM soon. oh joy! :)

by the way.. i do not want to disservice the absolute joy that is found in friendly/familial visits to new york. the last 3 months would have been a whole heckuva lot bleaker had not mom, dad, leslie, stephanie, natalie, xarissa, and now my friend anne (all the way from norway!) not graced the manhattan pavement and kept me company. so thank you to you all for your renewing visits. they are wondrous for the soul.