New week

Last week was just an awful week. It started on Sunday, when my car was broken into. I was at Simmons college for orchestra rehearsal, and when I got out, my back window was smashed. They took my rock climbing bag--which stinks on its own, since I had about $250 worth of gear in there--but I'd done something especially stupid, and I'd left my wedding rings in the bag. I'd been climbing that afternoon, so I took them off and put them in a little tiny pocket in the bag, and forgotten to put them on after climbing. So, it was an unexpected payoff for the thief, who couldn't have known that the rings were there, but now is the owner of a 1920s wedding band and a diamond solitaire.

So, we covered the window with a trash bag and waited for the glass people to come on Monday. It's nice that insurance completely covers glass--but it does help when the glass people bring the right glass. Yep, that's right--they brought the wrong window. Since we were their last customers of the day, they didn't have time to go back to get the right window. Thus we were stuck with having one more night of worrying that our car was open to the elements and crazy people.

They did come Tuesday afternoon, though not in time for me to take the car to my class at Brandeis. I took the bus--which is fine, I don't mind the bus--but the bus stops running at 3:30, and my class goes until 4. Supposedly, a Waltham shuttle takes over at 4, so I waited for that. When it drove up to the bus stop, the driver rolled down the window and told us that the bus was full. Now, my eyesight isn't that great, but I didn't need glasses to see that every one of the seats on the shuttle was empty. But the driver wouldn't let us on. So, I walked 40 minutes home.

Wednesday morning we got the news that Jay's grandfather had passed away. We spent the day with his family. Thursday was a bit of an odd day--I learned that there were layoffs at the Brandeis library, mostly affecting my old department, which lost several of the nicest people imaginable. I also got a raise (bright spot!) and learned some excellent but surprising news about a friend (another bright spot).

Friday was the wake. Wakes are never exactly a good time, but it was nice to see a lot of Jay's relatives that we don't often see. We had a really amusing conversation with Jay's great uncle about "CVS music," which is a phrase that will forever stick in my memory. My parents came, which was really nice, except that our bad luck rubbed off on them, and they got a flat tire in the funeral home parking lot. If you remember Friday, you'll remember that the nighttime temperature was below 0. Perfect!

However, we did get a sign that our luck was changing. While driving home on Friday night, a flash of whiteness caught our eyes--deer! There were three big beautiful deer on the side of the road. Jay slowed down and the deer stood still and we all stared at one another for a minute. It was a good omen, I think.

Saturday was the funeral, and afterward, lunch at Jay's aunt's house, which lifted everyone's spirits. So, we made it through the rest of the week without anything untoward happening. I'm extremely glad that there is a new week ahead of us. Now that things have (hopefully) settled down, I hope to return to photos for this blog. I've hardly been able to use the camera Josh gave us for Christmas, and I'm looking forward to playing with it.

Oh, and Grandad--I don't know if they have internet in the hereafter, but if you're reading this, you should know that Grandma's got it in for you. She told me that in return for you leaving her first, she was going to punch you out when she sees you next! You may want to locate a helmet when that day arrives.