Sweet Times Ahead

On the first day of the semester in my Phil. 1100 Intro to Ethics class, one student came up to me after class and said, "I think you know my mother." I asked her who her mother was. When she told me, I said, "I don't just KNOW your mother. I LOVE your mother!"

Susie's mother is Chris G., formerly Chris D., who went to high school with me at North Plainfield High School in North Plainfield, NJ. Chris is the one who taught me to knit! And to purl! She is the one who sewed my prom dress for me. She is the one with whom I baked that quiche for the French Club dinner, the quiche that spilled all over her mother's kitchen floor as we were trying to maneuver it into the oven - a quiche that made its way into my book You're a Brave Man, Julius Zimmerman. And she's the inspiration for the moment in Lizzie at Last, when Lizzie realizes that she doesn't have to go to the boring football games to try to be part of the popular crowd: she can have vastly more fun staying at home with a girlfriend and baking cookies - which is exactly what Chris and I decided.

This afternoon, as a result of Susie's and my scheming, Chris is flying in from New Jersey to visit for a few days. She'll stay with me at my house, but also see plenty of Susie, and she'll come to my class tomorrow to sit next to Susie, and they can both take notes side by side. And I'll take her to Boulder's wonderful knitting store, Spindles, Shuttles, and Skeins. And we'll talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. Oh, and maybe bake some cookies, too.

I can hardly wait.