Back in action, as promised, w/recent photos

Excuse the rather banal grocery-list style presentation of photos. Blogspot's formatting is not sophisticated, nor am I. But here are the gang, and a mystery photo, guesses are welcome.

Bereft

I have lots of overpopulator stories to tell, and one day soon a bunch will come at once. But I just can't write them yet. I'm just missing Anna so much that I can't muster up much except that. Last night at bedtime the crying came back and it was like it never went away. I know grief is like that, but it sucks; it's scary b/c it feels like it will never feel okay. S-phie got glasses, there's drama over S-phie's newly assigned Kindergarten teacher, I don't know what to do about the possibility that they're going to make all the kids say the "pledge" - these were all things I've been thinking about recently and all were things I would have gone to Anna for some good discussion and solicited and unsolicited advice, experience, etc. Or maybe I just want to tell her how crazy H-nry is, or how C-rina gets food stuck in her cooch all the time, but the point is, I just have all this stuff I want to share with her, and now she's not here and I just feel this huge, painful emptiness in my life. I know I'll get back to wanting to write silly stories about my kids and post pictures of them, but I just can't get to there from here quite yet. Soon maybe.

Anna

"Whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must pass over in silence." Maybe Wittgenstein's stance is a bit much, but I feel it now because I cannot begin to describe my friend Anna who died on Wednesday night after a grueling 1.5 year bout with breast cancer. Anna was my best friend, that I can say and you will understand. She was only 36 and the mama to 2 amazing kids - that too is easy to say. But to try to describe her is where I'm lost. To say that she was one of a kind would be to make a cliche of someone who was anything but. I am off to be with friends and her family, to tell stories and to remember her together.

We were friends for over 15 years and one of the greatest times in our friendship was the last 6 years, when we shared being mamas together. She loved her kids with a fierce passion. It broke her heart to think of leaving them. Hug your babies extra tight tonight, for Anna.