Icky. Lots of strange and sad stuff has been going on around me lately. All of the following have happened to people I know in the past couple of days: house robbed, stepmother shot by boyfriend, dog paralyzed and had to be put to sleep, children who need operations, child who was kidnapped by her father and the mother has to sell off her belongings to pay a lawyer, friends in the hospital, people diagnosed with bone disease/incurable cancer, and (this one gets me the maddest) a cousin who was disowned by her father 20 years ago, she dies in a car accident this past week, and her father says it makes no difference because she was already dead to him.... and then today I learned one of my MMB (Sark's Marvelous Message Board) sisters just died. I'm struck silent by the death of someone I didn't know personally, only online and briefly, but still, it hurts. We are a tight-knit group. And on top of this, minor though it may be, I'm hosting a knitting circle for church that was supposed to start at 7:30 and not one person has come. I truly think nobody's going to show up. Add to this my general lack of sleep.... and I just want to cry. A lot. I really need to concentrate on all the wonderful and simple stuff that's been going on in my life at the same time: Sophie's joyful abandon in rolling over, meeting my newest little niece at last, family dinner on the porch, candles around the house at bedtime, home movies, yoga in the morning before I go to work, long phone conversations with close friends I haven't seen in a long time, and showing up in this strip (I'm the unicorn in the last panel). I need to shower off all this ickiness and remember all the reasons why my life is so good. I just might take my magic wand to work with me tomorrow. I think I need it.