today is one of those not-so-good anniversaries that people have – one i dread every year. but i find myself feeling like a lucky person today. one of my daughters turned 25 on wednesday and was hit by a car while riding her bicycle. but she was not too terribly hurt, just bruised and sore, and she had one of the best birthdays of her life. i have a surprisingly large number of real friends, people i can and do count on to know me and love me [anyway], people i love and cherish. i get to be in this world another day. daffodils are coming. days are getting longer. banjo music. the beach, in 8 days. i have a job, whatever else i may say about it. my book club. my writing group. authors – “my” authors – whose work i admire and who are people i am so proud to know, and it still surprises me that i know these amazing and oustanding people. i live in manhattan, where i always wanted to live. i love and am loved by a man who shares a soul with me. i get to travel and see the world with that man….still arm-pinching in its surprise, for a homeless girl from wichita falls, texas. i have grown children whose lives transformed mine, and who are very fine people out in this world.

and daffodils are coming. who can be sad when they look at daffodils.