We have had an intense few weeks – book launch, Minnie’s leg, death of a sheep, too many other things to list. It is always soothing and grounding to me to pursue the rhythms of life – on Wednesdays and Friday’s we take our garbage and recycling to the town dump, also known as the Washington County Recycling Station, a Rube Goldberg marked by all sorts of signs, bins, regulations and rituals. We dump the garbage bags on the big bin, ($4.50 a bag) and the recycling is free, there are so many choices and options that I get confused, the former girlfriend does not, so I do the garbage, she distributes all the bottles and cans and paper.

Mike the dump manager is the grouchy but highly competent supervisor, he puts out things people might need or want, he so far refuses to let me take his photo, I am wearing him down and will prevail. I think the dump is the perfect backdrop to launch my return to New Jersey Friday to prepare to tape my Ted Talk Saturday at Montclair State University. We will be staying at a motel nearby. Montclair is the site of my former life, a place I spent more than two decades helping to raise my daughter and becoming a writer, I haven’t been back there since my divorce.

I feel good about going back, Montclair is an interesting town, I want to walk around it a bit and complete the circle of my life. It is ironic that I am going back there. My life there was marked by parenting, working for some years to establish myself as a writer.  It would have been hard for me to go there even a year ago, it is not now. I am at peace with the past and the present, insofar as one can be. And there is wonderful Thai food there.

I am excited about the Ted Talk, I have been working on it all week, I am happy with it. I think there will be about 300 people in the audience, and I have been afraid of many things in my life, but never of speaking to large groups of people. We will rehearse the talks on Friday night, give them on Saturday. I’ve sent about 25 photos as a backdrop, the Ted Talk people are smart and focused, they know what they are doing.