Happy Spring!

I am not feeling it, but it is all about attitude! Here is an email I sent out to some friends today.

Dear All: I know that you have all missed my writing!!?? So here is 1) my ode to Spring, 2) my recent celebration of my one year anniversary of living "back home" just passing AND 3) of course to let you know how I am doing with my March Madness brackets. Good on being back home, not so good on my brackets (a 7th grader in West Hartford CT is beating me), and I am in a holding pattern on our New England weather. A mild winter ended with a bang this past weekend but it was the first time I had to shovel all winter so I am not complaining. Two of my sisters picked a very good week to head to St Lucia to see another sister. And another sister has her tickets in hand for her second trip in May. My brother and sister in law have their reservations made for next winter (they rented a villa in St Lucia with 3 other couples). And me? I made trips to Houston Texas and Chapel Hill North Carolina this winter both completely and totally wonderful, but... who says my sense of adventure has waned since I moved home? I have penciled in a trip in June.

I am still enjoying my work at my school in the Development Office or "Institutional Advancement" as they call it now. I work in a beautiful setting and it makes for an easy commute and 6 weeks vacation right off the bat and - in our department - can be taken anytime during the year. And three meals a day available at no cost in the dining hall. Key to the gym. I am putting in a request for on campus housing for next school year, but it is a tight housing market on campus. But lots of vacation and all you can eat??? I am in heaven. Of course I am fighting with my life long "gets along well with others" issues...but being around people who have known me since I was young - they don't expect anything else! I graduated from high school with the Admissions Director's sister. One of the music teachers has known me and my family all our lives - her dad was Superintendent of Schools when my mother was on the town school board and he later became President of the college where I went. One of the dance teachers is the same guy who leads the town Drum Circle. One of the English teachers' sister is a long time acquaintance of my sister - one of their mutual friends? The ex-President of Peru. You know how I love that 1-6 degrees of separation stuff. I feel I landed at here for a reason and - as always - it is exhilerating for me as it unfolds.

Keep your eye on my brackets - I have OSU and Florida in the final game with Florida winning it all - again. Also, it is Dancing with the Stars time again. I am not feeling it for Clyde the Glide as I did for Emmitt. I am in our local library book club. Last book we read was The Glass Castle. My father just turned 87, mother will be 85 this year. They are swimming 3 days a week. AND my father took that quiz that was in one of those weekend magazines a couple of weeks back and IT says he will live to 98 years old...I did not plan on staying north THAT long...I usually go in to visit once a week but for 10 more years! Yikes. I will probably be struck by lightening for that...but along that line, I am going to the church I was baptized in and have been "drafted" to be a money counter every 5th Sunday. I usually go to 5 p.m. Saturday mass - a great "benefit" of the Catholic system in my mind to allow me to have a leisurely Sunday morning. I am watching the 2008 campaign unfold - looks pretty silly most days. It is not good for a world with the attention span of 3 minutes to have a campaign period that lasts 2 years. One of my sisters was the top vote getter in the 2006 election cycle for her town school board election with a unique campaign style! A couple of Saturdays standing at the town dump shaking hands (a good thing to do at the dump?...), and call it campaign.

Son's company had a film premiere party in St Augustine a few weeks back - back with his college "people" - but is still living in NYC. I think he is a struggling artist to the extreme, but it helps my worry level that one of my sisters lives close and his "day job" (actually at night but that is "day" to him) gives me some peace of mind. He has been in a couple live performances and is always a crowd pleaser. And his scooter is still with him in NYC. Keeps parking issue to a minimum and - in the shape it is in, it has had a hard life - it is not a real theft target.

I spend lots of time walking around town. What else is new? And I am writing every day - if you ever want to pop in and see what I am thinking any particular day.

Have a great first day of Spring. 80 degrees in North Carolina as shared with me by a friend last night...Why did I move??? I am getting giddy about it breaking 50 today...oh well. Everything is relative. Love, Anne