Tomorrow is my daughter's thirty-sixth birthday.

[murielm99]

5. I am happy to report that she has a busy day going.

She is working today. She cried in the restroom, but pulled it together.

She baked a cake we call THE chocolate cake. She is bringing it to a student group meeting. She started advising the group this fall.

Over the weekend, she went to a concert that featured Punch, a bluegrass group we like. They are not your father's bluegrass. Their lead singer/mandolin player, Chris Thile, is replacing Garrison Keillor on "A Prairie Home Companion" when Keillor retires this fall. She was a bit sad, because the last time she went to hear the group, she was with Tom.

I remember being widowed at 27, forty years ago. I did everything I could to keep busy, too. I remarried, had children, and made a new life. I don't know what is in store for her. We will try to help her be strong and get on with life. I just wish she was closer to home.