“Don’t keep looking back. You’re not going that way.” ~ Unknown
news day
My goodness, this was a heavy news day. First, when I let the dogs out this morning, I noticed fog hanging in the backyard. We weren’t having the kind of weather that produces fog, so I watched for a while, and then I saw it. A slow-burning something in my neighbor’s backyard, near their neighbor’s garage. I had the phone in my hand, about to call 911, when I heard the sirens. I couldn’t see all the action, and I never got the full story, but it smelled like burning garbage. Back in March, a garage fire broke out near a co-worker’s house just two streets away. That fire melted their neighbor’s vinyl siding. Luckily, today’s fire was more smolder and smoke than melting flames. Coincidence? You know what I think about those. All calm on the home front, I put on my new radar socks, a total surprise gift from BFF Ellen Fagala, and off to work I went. The first email I opened revealed that BFF coworker Carol Street was recently recognized as one of the five top undergraduate mentors on campus. Carol works really hard with and for her students, and she is totally deserving of this recognition. Then it was on to the last meeting of the Appalachian Water Humanities Cooperative this year, sponsored by the Gaines Center. What a terrific group of people, and some wonderful things have come along to inspire us to keep the band together into next year. But first, as our final responsibility this year, we hosted Melissa Helton, literary arts director at Hindman Settlement School, who gave a lecture on the anthology she edited, Troublesome Rising. As expected, it was a moving talk, and her work at Hindman is critical to the school’s legacy, which is pretty dang stellar. And, hey, I had on my radar socks! Finally, as soon as I got back to the office, BFF Kathy Schifflet had finally let the cat out of the bag. Now you know what those headshots were for, and she’ll make a great school board member if she’s voted in. I know of few others who genuinely care about every person they meet the way Kathy does. Doesn’t matter who they are, where they’re from, or how much or little they have. She is their champion. And that, my friends, concludes one very busy, exciting, fun-filled Monday. I love days like this, backyard fire notwithstanding, when all my friends are getting their groove on, and I get to soak up all the goodness. Next up: Tuesday! Let’s do it again.
No responses yet