still/here

I realize that using the title of Bill T. Jones' famous piece as the title of what is in essence a very frivolous undertaking (i.e., this weblog, and probably this post in specific) is oxymoronic at best and disrespectful at worst, but I can't think of the words "still" and "here" without that '/' anymore, so here we are. Still.

My best friend was in town from Portland and we hung out all day yesterday. I hadn't seen her since October so it was nice beyond what I can type here. She's got me 58% convinced to move out there if I don't get a teaching job. So we'll see, I guess. Her descriptions of tiny shops, tiny galleries, tiny restaurants, sushi parties, etc. ad infinitum were nothing if not magnetic. But it would be a challenge to move out there, probably alone, and not know what I would do.

But who ever knows? And this has been a week of good news, in any case. And good mail. I'll get to that in a second.

I handed in my thesis, won a residency, found out I'm among the top candidates for an internship (paid!) at a rare books/maps library, hung out with Mulysa, relaxed, saw L. (another dear friend), found options for summer housing. Ahhhh.

And in the mail:

First came a package from Mary, who offered to send strangers packages of upholstery fabric she was done with. I forgot I even asked--and then this package showed up in my mailbox, full of silks and cottons, embroidered and checked and striped and crewel-ed. So lovely! Thank you, Mary!!

And then Lisa emailed me to tell me she'd sent me a NEST! shirt, and there was all sorts of USPS-induced worry, and possible misaddressing, and then finally yesterday a package from this sweet & talented woman arrived. Inside--a little packet of odds-and-ends (weird-in-a-good-way wallpaper, tiny baskets, variegated ORANGE embroidery floss, +) and my lovely shirt! I am wearing it today and it is SO NICE. (You know, Lisa does have a little shop, if you're jealous.)

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And, as if the rest of the mail this week weren't enough, yesterday I also came home to a large box. What could this be, I wondered. I haven't ordered anything large lately.... Well, it was a package from my OpenYoursToo partner, Mery. Crazy. How does someone who's never met you read your mind? She picked out WHOLE YARDS (oh, the luxury) of fabrics I'd been hemming and hawing over for months. Seriously. But she didn't stop there--and I'm blushing to be so spoiled. She sent me a little tote-bag and matching tiny notebook, a hankie/kerchief she screenprinted herself with a character of her own design, buttons, ribbon, a magazine, a sweet letter. I'm truly floored by her generosity and perceptiveness. She has me pegged!

And now I'm heading to school to print those shirts. Be well!