MERCURIAL ME

     I haven't posted in 18 days. Why? Because I'm mercurial, that's why. Oh, sure, I'm also old, dull and stodgy, but in a very mercurial way, ya know? And for 18 days, my brain has not connected to this blog. Now, as I sit at home with nothing to do, waiting for a repairman who's "running a little late," I will try to make up for lost time.
     In the past few weeks, I've been to two funerals and one wake, and it's all taken quite a toll on me even though I'd never met two of the people who had died.  It's only been five months since my father-in-law passed away, and it began to feel like an endless downward spiral.
     But life has moved forward around me in other ways.  Notably, my daughter got her driver's license and is now the owner of a 2002 Toyota Corolla:

     (Those are balloons and streamers, by the way.)  She's been driving to school this week and, aside from locking her keys in the car the first day, has suffered no mishaps - at least none that she's told me about.  Sometimes I stop and think: "What have I unleashed on the world?"  But mostly I deal with it almost as if I trust her to act like an adult.
     My son is home for his summer internship in New York and, oh my God, he gets up in the morning, irons his dress shirt, puts on a suit and tie, and departs for the legal department of HBO.  Is that cool, or terrifying?  I haven't decided.
     In a week and a half  I'll be going to the New Jersey SCBWI annual conference, where I will attend workshops, carry out my mega-important volunteer assignments, and meet with agents who will critique the first 15 pages of my book.  They'll like what they've read, and nothing will come of it.  Mark my words. 
     Old, stodgy, mercurial and jaded.  That's me in a nutshell.  Funny, though.  My saving grace.