pause

My friend and critic, my former student, latterly my mentor and teacher, my admirable —awesome—courageous, most faithful blog fan, my steadfast commenter, in short, Marla, whose name you may have seen here once in a while, who checks in every day—my friend is in hospital waiting for prognosis and a palliative care space.

(I don’t know what I did to the alignment up there,or how it has corrected itself down here. Bear with it//me.)

I’ll be back later today. But Marla isn’t peeking over my/your shoulder.

LATER:

I’m preparing for my talk tomorrow morning. Had to have my hair cut so I look competent and not too messy. Preparing speech cards, I just ended up re-reading my book. (I enjoyed it.)

Note: I couldn’t have done all I have done in my s-called career, without the help of electronic aids. I never had a secretary; I had a computer. Now, though, with less energy, I wish I had a secretary. I remember long ago, when I was trying to break into writing (i.e. publication) and needed more time and energy to write - with four very young children to look after, I had to find or create spare time. My husband gave me a Grant for Ironing (in the days before Perma-Press) and I read/studied—Management in the Home by the time-motion engineer—”a genius in the art of living”—Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972). It worked then because I had youthful energy enough to fill in the gaps. I’m older now and I need nap-time.

Work Smarter, they say. Not enough, I guess.