Not much to share. The next few weeks are going to be a whirlwind because, all of a sudden, people are coming here: a former student, a brother, a singer, a granddaughter, a sister. Family will be the big focus, and adventure will be the watchword. When it is finally over, I will read and mow and sun and smile with the memories. There is something so rich about being with the ones you love. When you are in touch with that reality, nothing touches it for quality.

There are some with whom we will not be in touch for a long time, if at all. I have lost a sister. J. has lost a son. Perceptions of others come from each person's own experience. Apparently, their perceptions of us are not favorable. It happens. We grieve our losses; and then we wish them well, hold them in love, and get on with our lives.

Some people lose whole families. Some are lucky to find surrogates. It is important to the soul to be in meaningful relationship, and we each need to find our own. J. and I have magnificent children who live far away; and we have found people closer by who are now family here. Equally magnificent, they enrich us with every day that comes. I believe that we do the same for them.

I think about the many ways that today's society works to take from us rather than giving. We have all been shaking our fists at the perpetrators of the Gulf disaster, the banks that take and take without giving, the politics of greed. They try their best to diminish us and gratify their greed. Yet, we are not diminished. What makes us rich, they cannot take. What fills our souls with joy, they cannot drain.

Writing that sentence made me remember the sweet smell of a baby's head, its peach fuzz hair tickling my nose. He sleeps in perfect trust in my arms. Sorry, AIG, BP, Aetna, I'm not sharing. Go get your own, and go in peace. I'm getting on with my life, at least for tonight.