The Kt we loved

The Kt we loved
"I just might hurt you if you don't move that camera." — Kt

Thursday, October 25, 2012

A Prayer for Owen Meany

I’m reading A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving), which was made into the movie Simon Birch. Katie loved that movie, and I'm pretty sure she read the book. The two are quite different in some significant ways, but have the same spirit and mood. (By the way, Wikipedia reports that “The movie does not share the book’s title at Irving’s request; he did not believe that this novel could successfully be made into a film. The name “Simon Birch” was suggested by him to replace that of Owen Meany.”)

So last night at 30,000 feet, on my way home, finally, on a three-hours-delayed flight from Cincinnati, I read this:
“When someone you love dies, and you’re not expecting it, you don’t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time...Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there’s a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she’s gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.”
And suddenly I’m sobbing. Fortunately most of the other passengers had bailed after the second flight delay, so the cabin was mostly empty, and with all the lights off I didn’t have to deal with anyone trying to be solicitous.

It’s not that I’m embarrassed—if I were, I wouldn’t be writing this—but that such interactions always make me feel badly for the person who asked.

I had been in Cinci to give three presentations at a user group. My Windows wallpaper these days includes the following, because I like to look at it:

At the meeting, I messed up while connecting to the projector and showed my desktop briefly; afterward, a lady came up and asked me if that had been my daughter, and what happened.

So I got to ruin her day. Yeah, she asked, but I still feel bad about it. The same thing happens whenever someone asks if we have any kids.

Sure wish I could see a way around this.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Time Flies

...and the weather turns, and I see it's been a month since I posted. We're in the fall blahs: this used to be an exciting time, with back to school and back to real life: new classes, new teachers, new opportunities. Now, not so much.

I'm sitting at a friend's beach house in Nags Head overlooking the ocean as I write this. It's a nice quiet place to get away for a few days, in the off-season. Gorgeous and the ocean sound is a balm.

We'll drive home tomorrow, planning to arrive in time for the presidential debate. Something else Katie would have loved: debating and politics, together! Plus she could have voted this time 'round. And I know she would have been exhorting her friends and acquaintances to vote—even those who were going to vote the "wrong" way. Probably would have convinced a bunch of 'em, too...