TGtBatU, Part Deux: 3 More Good Things!

 I shall mention these wonderful occurances only briefly, but I must say two of them were responsible for my having a good week between March 5 and March 10.

1.  Yay!  I'd advertised approximately 4000 of Will's books (the poetry collection and the literature library) and the bookcases they sat on as a library.  No one in the books community answered the advert but I got bites from two young Mennonite women in Madras who saw the ad on Facebook.  They arrived on a Saturday with fellow church member, her three children (with one on the way) and her husband.  The husband had borrowed a long horse trailer and after about three hours packing, during which the kids helped, they drove away, leaving my library room (and future bedroom) with 8 extra inches on each wall.

The horse trailer and children without tech devices

Getting a good start.

Where Will used to sit in front of the poetry library

2.  I had dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in 40 years and had long thought was dead from AIDS. (You remember AIDS -- the plague before COVID?)  Through sheer synchronicity (and, of course, in my theology, synchronicity is another name for messages from the Divine), Mark had seen Will's obituary in the Idaho State Journal where it was printed beside his father's death notice.  But Mark doesn't live in Pocatello.  He just happened to be there for his dad's funeral and a family member had commented on the "wild obituary" and Mark said, "Hey, I knew this guy!"  It was wonderful to "catch-up" with Mark and be reminded that he had taken an independent readings course in the Gay Novel from Will about the time I went to Salt Lake City.  More about the meaning of this meeting later.  Suffice to say, I had a delightful evening with Mark and the Portland friend with whom he traveled down to beautiful Bend.

3.  Last and certainly not least of the good things was my friend Julie inviting me out to dinner on St. Patrick's day with her and her spouse in their new digs at The Alexander, a bright and shiny senior-living facility. It's quite the fancy place!  We had the St. Patrick's Day special of corned beef and cabbage and stayed past the hour when they wanted to clean up the restaurant.  There were two other ladies there, friends of Julie's of longer acquaintance, at least one of whom was also a widow.  No one who knew Julie and I separately would have imagined that we would become beloved friends but here we are.  Maybe I'll write more about that later as well.  

I've also been listened to by my wonderful therapist and a few other friends during the past couple of weeks.  All that is to the good.

Next up:  the Bad