Tales from the Steppes

2004-06-28

12:57 p.m.
In this bright future you can't forget your past, so dry your tears I say

There is an old adage "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." In my case, I often don't notice being diminished when I lose something, but do notice being enriched when it comes back. I mean, I guess I would notice if we were talking about food or air here. But sometimes I get so busy with the detritus of life that I forget the niceties.

For example, I had forgotten how much I love to bike ride because for the last 9 years it has been riding at a glacial speed. This year I got pretty much the best birthday present ever - certainly the most fun one I can remember. The SU gave me an IOU for a mountain bike and we actually went out and got one. Saturday night was the first chance I had to go riding and it was glorious! Riding at night, with the fireflies out and the moon bright in the sky, enhanced the feeling of speed. We didn't go that far and yeah, my butt was a little sore when we were done, but it was completely exhilerating. I had forgotten how much fun a bike can be.

I had also forgotten how much I like having a low stress friend around. I am very lucky to have as many good friends as I've got. Most of them are just geographically undesirable. Doesn't lessen the friendship; just makes it different. But to have a local friend who is friends with me because of me, not necessarily my children, is a tremendous enrichment to my life. I hadn't really noticed how much I like having someone to hang with because when I'm done with kid stuff, work, and school, there isn't a whole lot of time left.

Just got an email from one of my little friends from last semester. Seems the professor was asking after the document we were supposed to produce with all of our projects in it. Definite sense of deja vu. Didn't I send out an email the day after our final presentations trying to get this stuff together? Didn't I get absolutely no response from these cheeseheads? Good thing I did my project with the final format in mind, as my protion is ready to go. Will I never be through with this project?