Things begin to blur a bit as we reach the end of November (I can hear my reading public giving a sigh of thanksgiving!) so not much minute by minute stuff from now on.

We had to decide what to do with December and Christmas. My old friend Anne had decided to come out from Washington state in early December rather than coming to the funeral as she knew we would need some help consolidating things. I had already asked her how we were going to store all of the memorabilia: Thomas's things and also the letters, cards and other things that people had sent us, along with the news stories and tapes. Anne has always done crafts and knew about scrapbooking, which seemed an appropriate destination for some of these things. She came for a week and started cooking. She alphabetized the letters we were receiving and put them upright in clear shoeboxes. She went out shopping with me and we each bought expensive, Italian shoes that fit and are still going strong nearly 2-1/2 years later. We went and saw The Incredibles on a school night (no one was sleeping anyway). She walked in the park with me and let me weep. When someone has known you since you were twelve, that's what happens. Eventually she had to go back home to her own family, but I am awfully glad she came.