November 23, 2018

Gray day after Thanksgiving, Maud sitting on the keyboard, making it hard to type. Lived in the Hyatt Place in Alpharetta for two nights. I like it there, feel vaguely at home. There’s a stair at the back that leads to a cinema, which I used one evening to see Bohemian Rhapsody, to which I was looking forward but which turned out to be mildly boring. Tried another evening to see the new Harry Potter spin-off, but the guy behind the counter (who looked like he loved everything Potter) said it was horrible and not to waste my money. Thanksgiving merry. Saw the new fire pit, the new pond, beat all three nephews in their turn at chess. Trying to remember the last time I’d played chess. We played on the set I got one Christmas when I was a child. Caught up on lives and projects. D & D have girlfriends who seem right for them, and careers taking shape more conventional than their uncle might have wished for them.  I was a pretty conventional kid moving secretly toward the Wild. The stories of most are the other way around. Daniel has a dog, who lingers in memory as a dumb, sweet kid, down near the floor. The story is that Daniel wanted to move with Michaela to Colorado, but David could not live without him, and told him so, so now they’re all getting a house together. What a beautiful story! I hope all the ends of that are joy and mercy.  Thought more than I needed to about my blackguard student, considering how one determined liar can do a lot of damage. I believe I am almost finished thinking about that now. Time is short, and must be used only for the best.