Alligator Fosters and Other Changes

Today I soon leave to do the bread run.  So this post will be less an essay with a coherent theme than a collection of snapshots from the week.

--Many people in my immediate surroundings are in the process of huge change:  moving, illness, children moving to another level in school.  I am partly jealous--I want to move!  I am also relieved not to be in the throws of it.

--Of course, in a way, I, too, am facing change.  My spouse and I will be co-treasurers at church because the current treasurer is moving.  My sister-in-law will be moving down in a few weeks and staying in our cottage as she starts her new job here.

--That means I will be spending the next several weeks getting all of our stored stuff out of the cottage, a task I've needed to do for months now.

--One of my spin class members just sold her house a few counties to the north, which means they, too, have lots of clearing out to do.  Friday at spin class, one of our spin class members talked about hiring Guatemalans to do a variety of work around her house.  They will also help load the truck.

--She said, "I want a Guatemalan all my own to work on just my projects."

--In a way I knew what she meant.  In another way, it was disconcerting, especially in a week where I'd been reading a lot about the 400th anniversary of the first African slaves arriving in America.

--I look forward to reading the whole series on the subject in The New York Times.  In the meantime, I enjoyed the episode of NPR's 1A that talked to some of the writers.

--Also overheard this week:  "We're fostering an alligator."

--My first thought:  only in Florida.  But upon further investigation, it makes more sense.  A member of the family works in a wildlife rescue, and he brought a baby alligator home.

--The baby alligator eats food in the form of pellets, so at least they don't have to feed it live food.

I have no beautiful way to close that ties all these threads together.