Laying Karen to rest

We found out a couple weeks ago that Karen took her own life. We are devastated by this news, and cannot begin to fathom the pain she must have been in to do such a thing.

Today was her funeral. I was afraid no one would come. But about 20-25 people were there, including my mom and dad, my sister, my brother, and me. It was a hard service for my dad and the other pastor to preach. What do you say when a 55 year old woman systematically severs all ties with family and friends, destroys her identification and financial records, drives out to a deserted road, takes the plates off her car, and shoots herself so she can't be easily identified?

It's a cautionary tale, Karen's life, for a leaf separated from the tree cannot long survive. I wish she would have seen her nieces and nephew sobbing, one of which had no memory of her. I wish she would have seen my family sitting together and giving her the honor and love she has always had from us. I wish she would have seen the beautiful roses we gave her, and the tears we wiped away as we said goodbye.

She never renounced our name, never went back to her birth name. She lived apart from us, and died away from us, but she chose to keep our name. Names matter. For our part, we never let her out of our hearts; she carries our name, and thus will be part of our family forever.

Eww plumbing and -- what is that white stuff?

Clogged drain today, so that meant snaking and other unpalatable activities. We haven't done that in a long, long time. Spouse passed up a baseball game to clean out the sewer, what a guy.

Son and Youngest Daughter have been here since the 10th, so I've been very busy with all sorts of Mom stuff. We are moving YD back to her school on the 25th, which means we don't have a lot of time left and she has to pack up. Sniff.

Workwise, nothing done on the tenure package. Nothing done on the journal article. Went to a thoroughly annoying and useless retreat on Wednesday; I should charge the VP of Research for my gas and tolls.

Nothing says "School is starting soon" more than e-mails from snowflakes. Got one the other day from a snowflake who wants to change his project after a year of futzing around getting nowhere. Yesterday, got one from a student who is going on a ten day vacation the week after school starts. WHY OH WHY...oh never mind. Sigh.

Happy Birthday, Eldest Daughter!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, Eldest Daughter
Happy Birthday to you

May you live long with us
May you live long with us
May you live long, may you live long
May you live long with us

Njech nam zhye stolat
Njech nam zhye stolat
Njech nam zhye stolat ED
Happy Birthday to you!

Kisses, hugs, and squeezes for my precious girl

Love,
Mom

August already?

Wow the summer is flying by. Got a call from Youngest Daughter this morning, the first time I've talked to her in a couple of weeks. She is in Cyprus until the 8th. Can't wait for her to come home!

In a bit of good news, my colleague and I got to the next round on a grant proposal. Yay! Now we have to write a 10-pager by the end of this month.

I finished Niece's pillowcase, and all the goldwork/spangs on the Floral Glove. This morning I put the lace on it. Next, ruching the ribbon at the wrist, then assembling the pieces together into a needlebook.