-- Hi Meredith! (grin) I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, really. Thanks for checking in on me. We're really quite overdue for a visit, aren't we?

--The Story Corps interview rocked. The little Airstream trailer that it is housed in is soooo cute, and I think Jenna, our facilitator, and her partner were endlessly amused by our hard-core NPR-junkie-ness and our overt covetousness of their cool jobs. I'd apply if it didn't require moving to Brooklyn and traveling ten months out of the year.

Jenna did a great job of introducing us to the process of the interview. She listened in and took notes, but never interrupted, although we gave her the freedom to jump in and ask questions or get clarification on something.

I think Sarah and I went through half a box of Kleenex during the interview. She, as the interviewer, chose to focus the interview on my experience with Sarcoma. While we never run out of things to talk about, it was a conversation I'll never forget. We got a copy of the CD to keep, a copy will also go on file in the Library of Congress.

About 1/200 stories are edited for Morning Edition, so I'm not holding my breath...but if we get chosen, I'll be sure to let everyone know. In the meantime, if you're dying of curiosity, let me know and I'll burn you a disk!

--Every time I've thought about blogging lately, I've only come up with really negative things to say. Acting on the Thumper principle (If you can't say sumpin' nice, don't say nothin' at all...) I've been taking a bit of time out to write and talk less, and listen more. Sorry for the slump, but I think we'll all benefit from it.

--Perhaps in violation of the above statement, I recently attempted a session of a "Bible Study" by a very popular video teacher/women's speaker. The women in attendance were so excited and enthusiastic that I couldn't understand why I was left feeling so cold by the whole thing.

Later, it came to me. I told dh..."It's kind of like me coming to you and telling you I'm hungry. In return, you take me into a room and tell me, 'Here, have all the cotton candy you can eat!'." It just seemed heavy on the feelings and opinions and light on actually Scriptural content. Needless to say, I'm still looking for the Bible Study God would have for me. Maybe I should drive the 45 minutes through morning rush hour to the nearest CBS....

--Finally, this doozy.

"Do you work?"

This question came to me from a man with a thick accent who was refilling my diet Coke at Chic-fil-A. My mind flashed through my day...kids off to school, sorting through all of my little guy's clothes (packing away too small things and pulling out correctly sized hand me downs), running to the bank, the cleaners, the grocery store, doing some cooking ahead, attending a teacher conference, making the gymnastics run, taking one child to soccer, then driving soccer carpool for the other (at a field 40 minutes away), dealing with a potty accident en route and finally feeding the youngest (albeit fast food) while waiting to drive the return carpool.

"No", I replied with a smile, "I don't work. I stay home with my four children".

"Well, then good for you. You don't have to deal with drama." He jerked his head backward, indicating the chattering teens behind him.

I couldn't help it. I laughed loud and hard. There was no good comeback.

"Thanks for the refill", I told him, " I hope your evening gets better".

I know my had.