I�ve got a bunch of papers to grade and only one hour in which to grade em so I thought, naturliche, time for an update! I miss writing at diaryland. I don�t know I don�t do it so much anymore�mostly it�s just the change of scene. I don�t have a diaryland ritual set up here in my new office. That and I�m always frantically trying to plan for class because I am always not planned. But the end of the semester is so totally nigh and I�m feeling a wee bit cocky about myself these days, re: teaching. I�m all, please girl. I�m a teacher. I just go in there and teach!

Thank you all for your comments about Frankie last week. I�m glad, now, that the immediacy of her death is leaving. That was the awful part. All I could think about for days was how she died. It was horrible and I couldn�t stop thinking about all the little things that led up to her escaping from the house at just the wrong moment. I even beat myself up for not having left the cat food out because, I figured, she would have taken two extra seconds to inhale it before running out into the road and maybe that was all she needed. Lord, it was awful. I saw every move I had made in my entire life leading up to this awful moment. Everything I had done meant that Frankie would die on a Saturday night in November while Jeff was sick in bed with bronchitis. And then I began to obsess that something I was doing right at that second would lead to the death of someone else I love and what could I do differently? Crazy making.

I still wonder how the universe balances itself out again when some gorgeous glorious creature leaves the earth. Walks are the worst. And the best. I think about all the walks Frankie will never have and how she doesn�t get to see what happens anymore. Doesn�t get to see and play in snow ever again. But you see, it�s a much better thing to miss her and mourn her than it was to agonize over the facts of her death. I�m glad I am seeing her, running Frankie, in my mind now and not her dead body.

The dynamic of our little pack is different. Peaches is less grabby and more clingy. She�s also, strangely, completely house-trained allofthesudden. This has been an ongoing struggle with her since she came to us. Suddenly, poof! Struggle gone. Makes me strangely sad.

Right, well. Grading. I can�t believe Thanksgiving is next week. We had planned to go to Jeff�s parents but we had also planned on having the house painted already so we are not going anywhere. Pray for clear skies over North Carolina next week. Anyone want to come help paint? Ugh! The house! It drives us crazy with all the things all the time. Still, life is sweet.