Kazan — summer 2012

This last academic year was pretty tough. Fall semester was difficult. At Christmastime I went to my sister's place in Canada, and after a few days to my surprise I found I was suddenly happy again. And then it kind of vanished as the equally intense Spring semester commenced.

And then last night I was so sad. I was having Karen Carpenter flashbacks. She had such an amazing voice, but in the midst of the beauty was all that sadness…

• Rainy days and Mondays
• Superstar
• It’s yesterday once more

And in an interview I once her brother say that the song that most expressed her was, “I know I need to be in love.”

I had such a crush on her in the early 70s. She was cool because even though she was a girl, she played the drums. How neat was that?

And when she died… I was so sad.

And then to deepen my sadness I translated my favorite Lizzie West song into Russian:

http://s167926134.onlinehome.us/doc/prayer.html

And then this morning I was walking to the market when all of the sudden it hit me, “Hey, I'm happy again!” How did it happen? I'm not quite sure. But certainly having fewer tasks has helped. The normal rise and fall of emotions is returning, and I'm very, very grateful.