A short one. This morning I didn't follow the usual path down the stairs, through the door, down the hall to Carmel High School. This morning I slumped into my dirty white car and drove off to Triton College for an AP English Literature workshop. I was not overly excited by the prospects of the day. I expected a replay, with minor variations, of the workshop I had attended back in the fall at Marquette U.

Pleasant surprise #1: the session presented by Cathy D'Agostino of New Trier High School was no-nonsense good sense about setting up an AP course and keeping it healthy through the year.

Pleasant surprise #2: what to my wondering eyes should appear but ... first one and then ... two old friends from the golden days of St. John's College: Judy and Ellen. We had graduated together in '87. This is the same Judy and Ellen to whom I dedicated the immortal poem "Squinting" back in '86. It has been almost ten years since we last visited in the halls of the Art Institute of Chicago. I felt as if we had just been talking yesterday. These are two of the most comfortable, friendly people God has seen fit to toss into the world. We ate what passed for lunch at the strangest McDonald's in the universe - the one on North Avenue just past First Avenue, I think. They were remodelling all around us, drilling and sanding and replacing ceiling tile. But, no matter, we did the reminiscing thing and the catching up thing over whatever it was that we were eating. We swapped e-mail addresses and I did some shameless promotion of this site, which (who knows?) one or the other of these delightful people may be reading right this moment.

The drive home seemed quicker and brighter than the drive down. I sang along with Leonard Cohen all the way.