all that's past is prologue...

Sitting at Sweeney's fighting over the last fry. Sitting by the pool. Having brunch with other friends. Talking lazily late at night on Rebecca's porch. Playing a crazy board game at the Chatterbox. Watching our children play. Going on a long walk. Happy hour at Salut. Hanging on Christmas at her place playing with the cats. Commiserating over kids. Arguing over school start times. Hanging in a backyard party. Planning to go up north for some crazy Finnish sledding party we never did go to. Texting lazily back and forth. Meeting at summer art fairs and festivals and the State Fair. Sharing book notes. Pizza Luce. More or less any impromptu dinner. My kid wearing your kid's hand-me-downs. Ice crea. Pizza. Rebecca's cabin. Beer. Heady conversations. Children's Museum. Birthday parties in general. White elephant parties. May Day. Just knowing you were there to text to. F*ck, Leah, I miss you so much.

So, as you may have gathered, there's a lot of STUFF at my dad's house. Those who stopped by over the weekend were amazed at the sheer quality, and that's AFTER 8 weeks of organizing but BEFORE we have tackled the basement... So this is where it has gone so far: -  Bags and bags of clothes to Joseph's Coat, and to the Odd Couple coat drive (also going to Joseph's Coat). -  Food to the MLK food shelf. -  Glasses (so many glasses) to the Lions — they have a collection site at Lund's, but it's sneaky and you have to ask for it. -  Mugs to Simpson House. -  More (nicer) clothes to Mission Manduhai , for distribution in Mongolia this summer. -  A load of clothes and household goods picked up by the Epilepsy Foundation. -  Bags and bags of school supplies to Beatrix's school, plus tons of books to her teacher, and 10 boxes of history magazines to the Maker Space there. -  Bags and bags to Goodwill (I'm not crazy about Goodwill, but so