A Roll in the Universe

I haven't done this in years. I awoke, in my own bed, and haven't a clue how I got there. Yes, I've been to a party (a retirement party for a co-worker who started at our company at age 16 and now is taking early retirement at age 64). Yes, I drank and ignored Grandma's advice not to drink after midnight. Somewhere around 3 AM, I left with the other two stragglers and made my way home. I just awoke around 8:30 AM. In my bed, in my bra and panties. I can't remember how I got there. I don't remember coming home and undressing. I remember getting into a taxi and that's it. Obviously, at the time, I remembered where I live and told the driver, but I can't remember getting out my purse and paying. And I can't remember fishing out my keys, letting myself in and getting myself to bed. At all. I still had on my jewelry when I woke and took them off. I called for my cat. She answered. Curled up in the bed next to me, were my watch and nightshirt. ...

I attended a funeral today. The funeral was for a woman I befriended at work and who ended up being a wonderful travel companion and friend. Her name was Elsa and she was born in 1929. The birth was so difficult, they didn't think she'd make it, so they ran and got the minister and had her baptized immediately. I was thinking about this, about God's child returning to Him (as today's minister said), about the fact that Elsa did survive childbirth and a world war and touched several lives. Elsa and I never lacked for conversation. As a travel companion, she was extremely easy-going and sensible. She smoked and one could say that smoking was what killed her. I have my own theory, though (more on that in a minute). The smoking gave her a characteristic cough which helped me find her in a crowd on a few occassions. When we travelled, we always had separate rooms. That made travelling much easier on both of us. We could retreat and we could suit ourselves if we wan...