“How are you doing?” a friend asked. We were sitting down together over snacks, neither of us in a hurry to go anywhere. Not only that, but this friend has on prior occasions listened to me for hours while I ramble about all of the many things in my life. I knew she did not want the short polite answer. I started with the short answer. “Good. Things are good.” Because in a general assessment of all the things going on, there is far more good than difficult. When you get down to details things are more mixed, but that is always the case. We could definitely do without all the coughing. I wish I could say that I was approaching the upcoming travel without tension or guilt. I’d really like to never have to deal with an infected ingrown toenail ever again. Yet in the grand scheme these things are small. In fact if I do not write them down, then a year from now I will have forgotten that they happened. I much prefer this sort of trouble to the highly-memorable struggles of last year.
There are a few landmarks scattered about. I sent Strength of Wild Horses off to print this afternoon. Howard and I get to go to a convention together for the first time in a long time. Gleek is enjoying her weekly trip to ride horses. Patch is beginning to discover the frustrations of daily cello practice, but is still enjoying it more than not. The memorable things are good, the difficult things are forgettable. I can handle that.