I wanted to write about

I wanted to write about a ridiculous reality show that we caught last night, “R U the Girl With T-Boz and Chilli” where what’s left of TLC go hunting for another girl to join their group. I wanted in particular to discuss a contestant named O’so Krispie, because, honestly, didn’t you just choke a little there on your spit? And perhaps I was going to mention that the girls had to pick outfits to perform in, and O’so Krispie picked a pink tutu thing and wore it over her clothes, up around her chest and this was very UNFORTUNATE. Unless you are the viewing public, in which case this was very fortunate indeed.

But there are lots of things that fill my days--some of them are stupid reality shows, some of them are wedding miscellany, some of them are drool-inducing cookie dough milkshakes from Maggie Moos, and some are embarrassing antics. There are other things, too, less funny and more personal things that rarely make it here, because it hardly seems the place to put such fragile things that I myself don’t even know what to do with. Sometimes, though, there is nowhere else to put them, and I just can’t give a wholehearted rant on television when there are such bigger things happening.

My friend whose mother is sick is leaving New York tomorrow. She was supposed to stay through the weekend, but now needs to be home sooner than she thought. A bunch of us are heading over after work to help her load up her moving van and take things to storage, and maybe take her out for a goodbye dinner. Several months ago, a close friend of my mom’s had a son who became very sick with cancer very fast. The son was about my age, so it was especially hard for my mom to see her friend go through this with the knowledge of how difficult something like that would be. Now I’m looking at the situation from the other side of the glass and it tears me up inside to think of my friend losing her mom. It also makes me sick to my stomach when I think of all of the people I’ve known directly who have succumbed to cancer. I know it’s an epidemic, but how did this happen? It scares me to add the numbers. Life with all those losses takes on a different shape.

I’m looking forward to seeing my friend tonight, and I’m hoping we can give her a sendoff that lets her know we’re here for her always.

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