Sinister: do something pretty while you can

[laurel lemming]

dear sinister:

Tim's youngest sister is fifteen. she had a headache
last night, and she went to bed. she was in bed when
his dad called to talk to him, and they passed the
phone around, and after he had talked to everyone at
the house, his dad asked if he'd like to talk to
Megan--he could wake her up. he said no, it was
okay--he talks to her online all the time.

you know my friend Abigail, that I think you met a few
times? her father died in January 2002. her father was
like my father, and he was my dad's best friend. (I
knew her since I was born.)

my dad told me that yesterday they were thinking about
him, 'cause they're at the Austin City Limits music
festival, and there are some bands there he thought
Graham (Abby's dad) would have liked. and he told me
that he was thinking how he wished I could be there,
too, and just how cool it is that we're all alive
right now, and that we get this wonderful if fleeting
experience of being here.

we get to play music and listen to music and hug each
other and feel good and hurt and walk around. and I
think about that a lot myself.

this morning, we were snuggling in bed. the phone
rang, and he let it ring. then it rang again, and he
reached over me to pick it up, and I knew something
was wrong.

I was thinking about how great life is Friday, I was
having a really wonderful day. I was sick all last
week, but Friday I felt better. and Tim's computer
parts all came in that day. and I met him at the shop,
and he gave me a mission, and then I got to go buy
computer games with Someone Else's Money. and it was
so blue and cloudless and bright, and the wind was so
cool, and I saw at least 10 monarch butterflies.

and then yesterday, I met Tim at the shop at closing
time, and we walked home on Wells St. because I had a
surprise to show him. and I showed him: there is an
aquarium shop on Wells that supplies the Shedd
Aquarium, and it has all saltwater fish and cichlids.
and we looked at all the pretty fish, and on the way
home, he took me down a street I had never been down
before, and it was due west, the sun was shining right
in our faces, and all of a sudden, maybe three blocks
from the apartment there was a lot with horses in it,
and hay. it's where they keep the carriage horses. and
I never knew.

Megan was unconscious this morning.

they took her to the hospital.

they did a scan.

she had an aneurysm. they were placing a shunt. they
were doing an angiogram. they were--are?--going to
move her to a hospital in downtown Houston.

Tim has gone, caught a flight to be with her and with
his family. I can't go; I have class; I don't have the
money to go unless something Really Bad happens. I
tried to be there for him today, but I was somewhere
else. he fed me. he made sure I got back to the dorms.
I'm thankful that he could go and be with his family.
I am thankful.

I am thankful that she's still alive
I am thankful that today the cafeteria made vegetarian
chili
I am thankful that I have a place to go to, where I
can be online and talk to friends
I am thankful that Tim himself is okay, and I'm okay,
and we're both in pretty good health
I am thankful that I am awake today--

please tell those that you love that you love them
today. do something pretty while you can.
thank you for reading this, sinister.
love,
lem

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
        +---+  Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list  +---+
     To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
     send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
     majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper           +-+
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+
 +-+    "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000     +-+
 +-+  "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000  +-+
 +-+  "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001   +-+
 +-+               Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa                 +-+
 +-+               Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut!                +-+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+