From Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale

People disappear when they die. Their voices, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living mempry of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continut to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humour, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.

--Diane Setterfield



Sunday, February 24, 2008

Yesterday my sister came to Grand Prairie for a Winterguard competition.

We went to watch her of course, but it was a LONG day. Grand Prairie is not that far away but getting up at 6:30 or 7 on the day I am supposed to be able to sleep in was hard on my body... nah, not really. I could care less about that.

We met Dad at the High school, but first we needed cash for the tickets. So we ran out to the car and drove to a gas station to use their ATM. Only it was out of order!! Dad called and we met him at the ticket counter / folding table. He fronted us the money and we had to RUN in to the gym. A group had just started and they woun't let you walk to a seat while someone is preforming. Lucky us! It was the group BEFORE Emma's. So we got there RIGHT in time to see her.

She was very good and never dropped anything (saber, gun or flag). I was not. I BAWLED through the whole performance. I saw her walk onto the floor, waved to her and started to cry. I have no idea why. As I type this I am starting to cry again. *I wish I was a little more aware of my actual feelings and emotions rather than what they do to me* We stayed to watch other teams compete, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I was proud of myself for not crying when the other Clement's team competed and did REALLY well. I saw Nelli Morton and thought I would cry again, but I held my stupid tears in check. I recognized a lot of the school names and we stayed until the Coppell team competed.

Then we dashed like bandits. Well we walked all over the building and found the Clement's team and said "hi" to Emma and Nelli and Kelly Mecham. Brother and Sister Mecham sat next to us and it was fun to see them and talk to them again. I know Leslie was a guard, but I was not quite sure why they had come to watch until I saw Kelly.

We went to find the Kimball Art Museum. Along the way we passed the 'special' campus James was at as a child. We found the Arlington Museum o Art. It was closed! So we had a picnic outside.

The Kimball museum was super. I loved looking at the pictures and sculptures and was SO happy when there was more to see than the African Tribal masks downstairs. I walked around until my stomach hurt, which is a weird physiological phenomenon known only to occur in me. My stomach hurts if I eat and stand up for any length of time. If I don't hurt my back hurts. So either way I can't stand for long periods of time. I get weak and would probably pass out if I don't sit down when I start to hurt. Anywho. When i was sufficiently in pain. I got Scott and we sat down and when Dad came to join us, He was our excursion accomplice, we decided it was time to go. But Scott had no way of showing we were there THEN. We only went to a of cultural interest because he has a school assignment to go. Se we perused the gift shop. I found the COOLEST thing. There was SO much I could have taken home with me. Most of it was architectural/ horticultural books at a gajillion dollars each. Or pictures of famous art. Or cool architecture. Or other novelties or sketch books or whatever. But I got something completely useful.

It was suggested that I send it to Miles, in Brazil. But I'm not going to. It is mine. I'll get him another one.

Then we drove back to Grand Prairie. I only turned us around once and then navigated us RIGHT to the school. Yea me! Dad left to drive back to Houston. Scott got grumpy because, I dunno why. I got upset that he was grumpy. Once again we made it JUST in time to watch a group that Emma and Mom said were Really impressive. Meh, they were OK. The group after them, from Colorado were much better in my opinion. We watched more performances and were kicked out for a hour while they got ready for finals. I was upset about that because I had planned for us to come back right AT finals so Scott could just watch and not be grumpy. I knew he had a short attention span for all things scholastic / competitive, and I was trying to maximize my fun and enjoyment while minimizing his reason to complain. We got to watch four or five of the finals. They were all amazing. The Coppell team was very good. Perfect run and beautiful costume. Horrible 'floor' it was so distracting! My favorite was ... mumble mumble... the preformed to Habanera and it was amazing! my other favorite were the Alians, and um I'd have to look at my program again...

We left at 7 something PM and drove straight to ;Frisco to work on one of Scott's clients. They are amazing and I was disappointed that we left before Clement's competed again, but was slightly consoled with the knowledge of who we were going to see. Had a good time there. Felt like a ten pound weight was tightened to my mouth. Partly because I have a massive sore on my lip and partly because My wisdom teeth started to pound and throb. So We left when Scott was good and ready. I looked at the clock and got real mad. It was 3:30 in the morning!!!! No wonder I felt tired. No wonder EVERYONE else was asleep! I think it's rally unprofessional to overstay your welcome like that, not to mention RUDE!

Then I woke up at 9:50 this morning.

The end.

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