The memorial service and the birthday party were both very sweet, each in its own way.

At the luncheon the lady next to me said to the table, Has anyone ever heard of Bob Jones University?

Well...that would be yours truly. I piped up, I graduated from Bob Jones University. Turns out she did, too, something like 34 years before I did. In fact, she was a member of the first graduating class at the new Greenville, SC, campus.

Trust me, this does not happen very often. I enjoyed that.

I'm so thankful for friends. Where would we be without them? In times of sorrow, times of joy, friends enrich life experiences and possibly make them bearable. Once a pastor told me that he heard Billy Graham believed the greatest human need was to avoid being alone/loneliness.

That makes sense to me since God created humans to have communion and fellowship with Himself. After our need for God, I would think that basic element of our make-up, craving companionship, would next extend into human relationships.

Of course, for all the loners out there, who prefer it that way, I understand from whence you are coming. I can be very happy being alone with myself. And Robby. And poor Jazzi. But still, friends are the spice of life.

And having a pet is vital. It just is. A pet is the sugar of life. How 'bout that man in Florida who bought a tree farm for his cats, which now number 500? And to think he used to love and adore his furniture and didn't even like cats. Now his furniture is gone, his love of it a dim memory. He must be a wonderful person, taking in the abused cats and all. He's going to be featured on Animal Planet, I do believe. He has built adorable fairy tale cottages in the woods for his kitties. Really, Google it.

A Reflective KEM

Phooey, hughey and dewey. That describes my day.

How was yours?

Tomorrow is a funeral for one friend's mother followed by a birthday party for another friend's mother. Both my friends and I were in school together as children. Odd. And it works that the funeral is on the way to the party, which is 2 hours up the road. Life is something else.

KEM

No more frosting frying the brain. Last hunk of birthday cake was wrapped in tin foil and hand delivered to stepson. I hope he doesn't know what twang is.

So what made me then go buy a box of Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars and eat two of the three in one sitting? I don't know either. And that was the main course. Appetizer was 4 Mozzarella Cheese Stix and dessert was Crispy Kettle Potato Chips.

Robby is subdued today. Maybe he is just busy growing. Or maybe he misses Mike, senses something is amiss or someone is missing, something like that. I've learned to sit at the computer and prop his (Robby's) fishing pole between my legs so he can play with the furry muskrat on the end of the line while I tap-tap-a-tap. Roberto Clemente wraps the line around the chair rungs so the muskrat is left dangling. It's lots of fun. Then I fling the line and see where muskrat lands. Robby loves it. I think I get carried away and let him play too long and then he's becomes overly exhausted, a trait perhaps he picked up from his mama. I shall ask at his vet appointment tomorrow, if a kitten can over play. Round three of shots. I dread it.

Life is getting back to normal. I don't know if that's a good thing or a happy thing, but it is a thing of necessity as too much partying (KEM'S very mild idea of partying, eating smoked fish and walking on the beach with friends, followed up with a chocolate malt) about puts me under. Sad, I'd say.

Okay, that's all she's good for tonight.

Yours,
KEM

Hello one -- and all, if there is an all,

If I keep up this birthday cake business, rest assured, I shall not be around for birthday 51. Heck, I won't even be around for next week. For some reason, a humongous cake was ordered and it just won't go away, no matter how much of it I eat. It's starting to have a twang to it, but that doesn't deter me, oh, no.

My husband is touring around Lake Tahoe, and I'm fixing to wheel the garbage can to the curb. Who said life isn't fair?

This organizing lady claims that your stuff 'n junk is finite. I just remembered that when tonight I removed several (a small sack's worth) oldy moldy books from someone's house, someone who wants to declutter, minimize, condense, and, in general, be repelled, repulsed, revolted and any other re-word you can think of from acquiring, accumulating, retaining new junk. So, even though a weensy sack seems like a grain of sand from the seashore, it's one less grain. Somehow...that thought does not hearten me. Nevertheless, 'tis true, no matter how much junk you have, there has to be an end to it, even if it's plucked from the piles one piece of sand at a time (in which event, you won't live to see the end of it). I shall properly dispose of these nasty looking, foul smelling books on the morrow. They are inspirational type books, if the fumes don't kill you first.

I tell you, it takes a certain strength to live cleanly, I don't know if I have what it takes, to be honest. By cleanly I mean junk-free.

Well, friends, time to make my move and go clean the kitty litter box. And roll the trash to the street. But I will dream of being on a lake. Man, I just heard about the coolest lake ever. My dear friend's mother passed away on Sunday. In the obituary it talked how she loved to spend her summers in the family cabin on Torch Lake in northern Michigan. Well, KEM'S old ears perked up on that one. I Googled it and it turns out to be the most exquisite lake ever. The water is the color of the Caribbean, teals, light blues, aqua-marines, crystal clear. I never. It makes my darling Paw Paw Lake look like a cup of coffee. Well, Alicia's mother thought Torch Lake was the most beautiful spot in the world. Now, guess who has to go see Torch Lake?

But Alicia's mother was so beautiful. She had a smile to end all smiles. And her eyes smiled to match. She grasped the point of life and made it her point to bless everyone who crossed her path. Wow, I'm so inspired. Even in her death others are being reached by her life, people like myself who knew her as a child, but only briefly. But I remember her. She's unforgettable. Dear Lord, please bless Alicia and her family.

KEM

Oops, have attained a new level of exhaustion. Hope I'm not suffering the after-party blues, but I ain't feeling so hot. Gotta stop stuffing my jowls with birthday cake. When I went to visit my mother tonight, I collapsed on her bed and dozed in and out for two hours. It was delicious, I never wanted to get up.

Robby continues to be the male doll of all time, at least in my little world. Mike says I shouldn't call Robby a doll, but he's a doll kitten. And he happens to be a boy.

For now, I must depart.

KEM

It was sad to read about that pack rat woman in Las Vegas who was found dead, buried beneath her mountains of clutter. Didn't it take them four months to find her? Not that they were looking under the clutter. The poor scent dogs couldn't even find her, couldn't sort through all the clutter smells.

Anyway, I liked what Michelle Carro, a psychology professor said. That hoarders "can't make decisions (it's impossible), organize themselves or focus on immediate tasks."

Well, now when I can't decide what to order off a menu, can't get my clothes and music in order and find myself multi-tasking on low-priority projects, to the point of accomplishing zero high-priority jobs, I'm going to remember this pitiful woman and her love of her stuff. I might not be a hoarder like she was, but the bad traits common to a hoarder are lurking within my soul and manifesting themselves to my hurt.

Accomplishment, that's what we need!

Now I'm going to accomplish going to bed.

Old Lady KEM

Cause and Effect. Eat a big wad of birthday cake in the middle of the night and have your head explode in your sleep.

This is the afterglow of the big day. My friends and family are gone, but they leave a lovely scent of preciousness wafting behind them. (This must be the frosting talking. But you know what I mean.)

Robby enjoys the carnival ride of sitting on his big bucket of kitty food while I unspin the lid, whoo! around and around he goes. Robby is very sleepy today. I think all the company did him in, in a delightful sort of way.

Well, time for more birthday cake. At breakfast this morning, I just happened to mention to the waitress that it was my birthday (well, it was, yesterday). So the next thing I know, a piece of cake is sitting in front of me, with Happy Birthday elegantly scrawled on the plate in chocolate syrup. Of course, if the Vinoy had known, they would have brought me a stack of buttermilk pancakes instead and written happy birthday in syrup :) But I forgive them.

The big laugh for the day was Sweet Tulsa telling me the story, at Ft. DeSoto beach, incidentally, about an older man we know getting remarried the instant his wife died. One of Sweet Tulsa's charming friends said, I hope his wife wasn't still smoldering in the morgue even as he exchanged wedding vows with the new wife.

For some reason, "smoldering in the morgue" sent me over the edge, I can't stop laughing. I guess you have to know the Lovely Lee who said this...I can just picture her summarizing the situation...too funny.

Okay, sugar granules are gobbling up my brain cells. Have a wonderful week, everyone!

KEM PS My sister made a picture book (as in a real book) of my life, from old photos, I think I told you. But what I didn't see, is on the binding, is that what you call it?, the spine, no, I can't think of the word, but the title of the book is Dear Little KEM. It's printed in dear little white letters because the book cover is charcoal gray because the picture on the front of Laura, our brother and me and the dog Boggie is black and white (and could win a contest, the composition is priceless, way to go, Mom). Which, charcoal gray, by the way, is the color of the top I wore to the party. Fun how things work out that way.