What's on my mind...

I admit to being a reader and a book listener! It seems that lately I am always returning books to our charming little library where so many of the librarians are Silver Vixens! I usually intend to simply return the books, but always leave with more than I returned. Strange how that happens, isn't it?

My oldest grandchild is staying with us for five days. I have two daughters, so he is my first experience with "male children" and what a fabulous experience he is! Because of him I laughed until I cried at his first T-ball game. Little boys much more interested in digging in the sand or picking flowers for the Mom/coach nearly brought me to my knees. Of course, in exchange I introduced him to riding trains and the El/subway in Chicago.

I have a delicious little deck off my Room of My Own. For the last two summers I have carefully planted sort of fancy flowers and then gotten busy and forgotten to water them and had sort of fancy dead flowers by mid summer.

In the old days -- before Sweet Jack -- I used have my oldest grandson come stay for a night about once a month. We started this when he was about 3 and continued for seven or eight years. He lives in a community that is about 70 miles from Chicago and, as they say, lifestyles away. What a joy it has been to introduce him to museums, riding the el, playing on a Lake Michigan beach, and generally living in an urban environment! I found a little exploring partner as his different perspective (literally) taught me to see things in a new way. We are both pretty much up for anything.

Watching the tribute to Tim Russert on Meet the Press this morning left me in tears...the love he had and expressed for both his father and son were immense.

It got me to thinking about my dad who died 43 years ago when I was 19 at age 53. I'm one of the lucky and fortunate ones who had a wonderful dad. Doesn't it seem we hear so much more about the distant, absent or abusive ones?

We just came back from buying Jack's first anniversary gift for me. Remember when we thought about the tradition of paper for the first anniversary? Back then who knew that I would be celebrating our first wedding anniversary just after turning 62?!?

I am in San Francisco to attend a two day conference on marketing to Baby Boomers. You know I am passionate to say the least about raising our visibility and I thought I might learn something about the topic at this highly regarded conference. Alas, again we are certainly far from front and center.

Yesterday we went to see Shout! a non-stop show about the 60s told through music, clothes and stories. It was 90 minutes of incredible energy -- tons of fun, but not without it's poignant moments. I would definitely recommend it if you are in or coming to Chicago or if it heads to your area. I didn't intend to make this a review of the musical, but wanted to "set the stage" to tell about the fun around the performance.

This week is a time of so many transitions I'm feeling a little breathless.

I am wrapping up my second trip to Israel in six months and the pace is likely to continue. Last July my younger daughter, her husband and their three children made the permanent move to the land that holds their hearts...and they hold mine.