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I love you...bad things have happened and we know you are gone, but I can't help believing that on some levels you might hear this. First, we loved you very, very, very much. Second, you don't have to worry about the kitties...we will see that they are in great places. Third, I can't believe that you won't be reading this...since I loved you so much...more in a more formal setting, but this is tonight and I wanted to tell you that all is ok and that we will take care of everything...beyond this...can I say that you were TERRIFIC, THAT YOU KNEW SO MUCH, THAT YOU MODELED THE STRENGTH THAT I HOPED TO ACHIEVE, THAT YOU GAVE TO OTHERS SO FREELY, I love you and already miss you so much, Meda
Two stories about Ann (added later) Story One I came back from a mainland trip with a horrible cold. Ann peered at me over her glasses, and quickly said "shipping fever." I looked back confused, and she explained that when cattle where shipped in the Midwest, they would often become sick. Ultimately, the syndrome "shipping fever" emerged to cover the problem of animals being exposed to germs in new environments for which they had little resistance. Life around Ann was always like that: there was the history lesson and the fun of discovering a new concept. I've taught countless sick travelers her lesson over the years. After she died, I discovered an album she made us filled with favorite clippings…one has the phrase scrawled on a cartoon…
Story Two The last night we saw Ann, she was furious about the public outcry about the pledge of allegiance. What particularly annoyed her were all the pompous references by politicians to the "founding fathers" re: the pledge. She began: The pledge was drafted by a Baptist minister (my memory fails) in 1892 And published in a family magazine. The phrase "under god" was inserted by the Knights of Columbus during the McCarthy era. She was as irritated by the bad history as by the bad politics. And she was, as usual, absolutely correct on both counts.
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