Yesterday.

At the mall yesterday, getting my glasses fixed. Every time I’m at the mall, I think of my cousin Halee. While not estranged, we don’t talk. I think of her because I’ve run into her here, twice, both times at the Mac store.
This time, I imagine seeing her walking in the parking garage, as I’m finding the way out.
I wanted to pull up next to her. Say hi, and ask her, earnestly,

“What’s gonna happen when Grandma dies?”

And,

As a good friend asked me yesterday, what do you think of Cho? And I’m proud of myself for some reason, well, I know why because,

As I remarked to my wife, why don’t I feel for the victims of Virginia Tech, why this isn’t surprising anymore, but
Then, almost a footnote on CNN this morning, 157 dead in Iraq.

And,
I feel that.

And,
Who’s more important?
Can we choose the dead?
Should we hold useless candles and use them to light the graves of victims or the houses of bombed children?

And I find,

The Iraqi dead are so much more important to me than dead college students.

Because Cho is laughing again in gunman’s heaven with Harris and Klebold and the others!

So,
I can close my eyes and pretend I’m living outside of San Francisco again because gas in Colorado is $3 a gallon.

And I’ll drive,

Because:

My wife still needs to be picked up from work on shitty weather days,
My son needs milk,
My friends need rides,
And I need coffee and beer.

So, I still believe,

Happiness!
We’re All In It Together.