"A Problem Page For All!"

Zib, if I had your hair, I would be letting it down all the time -- piling it up into a thick bun, and then, casually, with a sigh, pull it all out and shake it free while mouths drop and men propose.

Maybe if I had long, long hair like you do I would be used to it and not find anything special in it, though. I mean, do you really enjoy your hair? Or is it more like, "Eh, it's just my hair that happens to be calf length"?

Golly, whenever I see you again I will be begging to play with your hair! Seems to me that when we met I was so brain dead to it. I saw it and was like, "Whoa, that's a lot of hair". But I wasn't like, "Lemme look at it! Can I wrap myself in it? Can I braid it? Can I hold it up to my face and let it run down my back and pretend it's mine?!" I was too excited to do much of anything, I guess! Did you know that I was actually worried that you would disapprove of me because my hair wasn't that long when we met?! I'm so silly!

GOOD! I'm so glad you quit that diet! It sounds like what I call the Perfect Eating Plan, but sheesh -- I mean, you couldn't eat peanuts because they contain molds?! AGH! Too much pickyness. Mum has a book called The Woman and the Yeast Connection which I should read. I can't think of why I'm so down these days. I really could have a yeast problem going on.

Hey, Zib, just out of curiosity (not out of rivalry -- "How many do you eat a day?), how many servings of fruits and vegetables do you suppose you eat a day? I think I get about 5-6, though sometimes I eat only 4. Ugh. The American Cancer Prevention organization/society/whatever recommends 9. 9! I want to cry. I would be having to buy food practiaclly every day if I were to eat that much!

I read a recent study that fruits and vegetables have far, far, far more cancer-causing things in them than meat, just in their natural makeup. But then again, meat has all that fat which is just asking for heart disease and cancer.

Babies don't fit into our lives, right now, I know, but bah humbug, we can dream, can't we?! I think that being pregnant would screw up my emotional stability even more, though! Some women enjoy those lapping waves of estrogen during pregnancy, but they might errode me. I don't know...pregnancy is such a mystery to me. I read Spiritual Midwifery all the time and read people's testimonials and essays and poems and stuff, but I still don't get it, really. You know what I mean? I can't fathom how amazing (to be horrifically trite!) it would feel to know that right under your skin, cacooned in your very own uterus, was this little being growing fingers and toes. Can you say "crazy yo"?!

How are you feeling now that Cherie is doing better, because you were her companion for so long? How are you dealing? How is she dealing? What kinds of things is she starting to do again that she couldn't do before?

My own mom is doing better, too. I swear, Western medicine doesn't know beans about Chinese herbology! I'm so glad Mum found Dr.Sokitch. She's done wonders for her.

Like you and Rachel, I'm totally looking forward to fall! I remember last October, walking around the CR, it was blissful to experience that fall smell in the air -- kind of smokey but very crispy and cool and fresh -- and to start wearing scarves and see the trees on campus turn red. It felt so incredibly academic, and classic, and great! I used to hate fall, but now I realize that it's winter I truly dislike. Fall is gorgeous; usually sunny, usually cool; golden; full of pumpkin (I am addicted to pumpkin) and apples and cider and blah blah. But something about seeing the trees gray and emaciated without leaves really digs into me and depresses me. Something about the constant gray makes me want to hybernate. Life feels paused, and long, and dreary.

Jimmy e-mailed the head meteorologist of our local National Weather Service office to ask about student volunteering and was told rather rudely that they don't tak anyone under a college junior or senior... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! What is WITH people and age? Maybe they don't want to take the time to teach an enthusiastic youngster? That sucks. Jimmy's so sweet! I hope he didn't get discouraged.

You said money is still incredibly tight, and that reminded me that it amazes me how many people I hear bitterly remarking about how rich college professors'and deans are and their families lead SUCH comfortable lives and how they can vacation WHENEVER they want...It's annoying, because they probably don't know anyone who's a professor or dean and has a family. I know you and your family, and your parents work at colleges...and you guys aren't driving a BMW SUV and don't get whatever you want whenever you want.

I love to talk to you on the phone again! I tried calling you the other day and somebody answered but then the connection went dead. I tried back and the line was busy. So...I figured either you'd answered, recognized my voice, and thought, "Oh, no! It's Elizabeth! Not her; I wish she'd leave me alone!" and hung up -- or I dialed the wrong number.

LOL! Gasp! That's so funny! Mum actually told me that you called twice, but she said the area code on our caller I.D. machine read 877 -- which is Elk's area code! -- so I told her she must be going crazy or else our I.D. was wrong. Currently, our upstairs phone is hanging out of the wall with the wires jumbled up, because Jasper and Mum are trying to fix it, and we just got a new phone downstairs. I used it today and it worked fine, but it doesn't ring for some reason! The upstairs phone controls that I think.

Everyone on the phone always thinks that I'm Mum, and that she's Caitlin, so I imagine Mum did sound like me on the phone. Whenever I call you and you answer, I'm never quite sure if I've got Elizabeth, Rachel, or Cherie on the phone! In person it's easy as pie to distinguish; but phones really tweak voices, don't they?

By the way, I roared with laughter when I read that bit in your letter abou how much you hate your voice, that you cringe whenever you hear it on tape or video. Me, too! It's so low and creaky and flat. YUCK! I constantly remind myself to "brighten up" my voice when I'm being recorded or when I speak to customers at the restaurant. It's almost as if when I just speak without effort my voice sags lower and quieter. It's so strange.

How was rollerblading??