I Care Not for St. Patrick's Day

I'm just sayin'. Then again, I hate Halloween. I'm a mean one, Mr. Grinch.

So! What's new? I couldn't put up a new post for a while, there, because either Blogger or my work computer just wouldn't let me. Who knows how long this posting window will be open? I should say something worth reading, shouldn't I?

I read Ayelet Waldman's new book, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and it is absolutely sob-inducing. I couldn't read it in public. I totally cop to the fact that I'm inclined to tears these days, but I have never read such an honest portrayal of grief. The main character is devastated by the death of her infant daughter, and by the suspicion that she accidentally *caused* the death. She is destroyed. In a lot of books or movies, women who are this wrecked seem to do a lot of staring out the window, watching the rain, and maybe smiling wanly at people who try to offer comfort.

This woman, though, hates herself and everyone who has a kid. She's appalled at the idea of support groups. She can't stand her step-son. She does a lot of horrible, selfish things. She's very flawed, and very real. She's not necessarily likeable, but the story is . . . it's something.

Other stuff: Our local no-kill shelter, Animal Friends, just opened a new facility outside of the city. The new space includes a small library. Why? For Reading with Rover, a program that lets learning-disabled kids read to a dog. Dogs, you see, provide a rapt and non-threatening audience for kids to practice reading aloud.

Are you crying? Because I can't talk about that without bursting into tears. So wonderful and good!

Oh, and I'm working on my list of Required Reading, per Joke. It's been so much fun that I'm pretty sure I could have skipped the last half of my Government Documents class last night, because I was thinking about books for the list. So I'm hoping to post that soon.

Okay, just one more thing. Teddy's school's motto is "Think Often of the Comforts and Rights of Others." Yesterday morning, at our parent-teacher conference, Ted's teacher told his dad and me that Teddy's always helping the other kids, and making sure the ones who get overlooked are never excluded. She said that exemplifies the school motto more than any other kid she's had (she's super-young, but still!). He's the best kid ever. Please remind me of that when he gets to be all sullen and angst-ridden, okay?

That is all.