Summoning Sandy

I post here for my own benefit, and to communicate with those who read the blog, of course. But I also post here to connect with Sandy. Almost without exception, she checks in with me while I'm writing an entry.

As I write here, my other laptop switches to its screensaver, which is a random slideshow of photos on the computer. There are thousands of photos in the mix, and since Sandy was usually the photographer, she's not in most of them. But as I start writing, I notice photos of her come up regularly, initially every other picture, and then one after the other, sometimes 7 or 8 in a row. That doesn't happen with any other person or subject matter in the photo collection. I take it to mean she's here.

When I'm specifically writing about us and our relationship, I start to see photos of us together come up, one right after the other.

Sandy with her mom in front of our house in 2005. Several
photos came up of her with her mom while I was writing this.
Could be she's planning a visit to Moses Lake - watch for her!

And sometimes, the photos of her seem to be reacting to what I'm writing or thinking (or saying out loud). A look of shock; a show of strength; tongue out; laughing; whatever. (It helps that she was a ham, so there are such photos to communicate with.)

I always read the post to her, and ask her if she'd have me change anything. Occasionally, I hear a suggestion or a protest, and I make the change. Sometimes she points me to the photo she wants me to use.

She's been here today. I felt her presence when I watched the video of Gregoire signing the marriage bill. I cried, of course. Jamie Pedersen, the House sponsor of the bill, is a personal friend of ours, and as he stood there talking about the achievement, I remembered a conversation we had when he was running for office. "Vote for me," he said," because I'm going to get you married." And he would have been right, had cancer not intercepted.

But I felt her even more strongly as I wrote the last post, about Komen. It was one of those days that her photos reacted to what I wrote. Images of Sandy being emphatic or quizzical, and then, as I wrote the bit about being bitter that she's not alive today, several images of us together.

This is the photo that came up when I mentioned "applause."
Yep, she bad.

I've heard from others that the dead are more likely to come to us when we're thinking of them. I suspect that's even more true of a Leo. So, if anyone is craving a little Sandy attention, I encourage you to think about her in the context of your life. And if she still hasn't shown up, throw in a little applause.