Two unrelated thoughts

Writing is largely a matter of listening hard enough.

Also, I have just boxed up my books, which feels like I have boxed up my friends. I don't care about clothes or furniture or dishes. Shutting up the stories and taking the pictures off the walls are the most final things to me when moving. (Not that we've packed the other things yet--books are just easier to box up.) I'm freaking out because we're leaving in three weeks and NOTHING IS DONE! Meanwhile, events continue to happen around us that we need to participate in somehow...