friday night, my mom and i went to see anne lamott speak on her new book. she is funny. bizarrely holy. she is comfortably aging, and that makes me feel comfort. it actually makes me feel very young.

she wrote a book called Travelling Mercies that really changed me in that way that only good, truthful books can do. i think i might've asked you to read it at the height of a growing season, and possibly in the middle of War and Peace...two very involved projects. either way, i know you didn't get to read it. But i always wanted you to read it. or to read it out loud to you.

i read it in june of 2005, while sitting on a plastic chair in goshen, guarding a cherry tree from pesky birds. the book, it so happens, is the reason why i wasn't getting much guarding done.

you can blame anne lamott for the full bellies of the birds that year.