The Comfort Sheets- Chapter 2

The Comfort Sheets. I desperately need them again. The childhood memories- when all was well. When I was carefree--- oh how luxurious - to be Care Free.

It has been a tumultuous year: the death of a friendship, the death of a brilliant, funny man who was neighbor and friend for many years, the impending death of another longtime neighbor and friend whose wife is one of my dearest. And now this week, learning that another dear friend's daughter has breast cancer. All this in the midst of our house destruction and reconstruction and of course our foremost concern - the dramatic downturn in Michael's health and the inability of our efforts to achieve stability.

The usual suspects for maintaining some sanity (scarce as it is) - tap, family, friends, walks on the beach, humor in large doses, great food

and fine and not so fine wine have worked to a pretty decent extent. But sometimes I just need to curl up in those crinkly, wrinkly sheets and go back:

The sweet sound of my father whistling.

Dad teaching me to swim in the frigid water at Hampton Beach N.H.

The warm,stale alcohol smell of the bar adjacent to my Irish Tap class.

Making angels in freshly fallen snow.


Thank you sheets. I needed that.