The delay in having a pacemaker

 

Paul McC very kindly helped HAR tape 7 more boxes of Melville books & papers for the Berkshire Athenaeum and took them into the PO with her. Nate has taken a few books, Paul McC took a few, and Andrew Chilton took some more, and Nate is in charge of putting all the American History/Genealogy books in a safe place. Several more boxes of Melville books will be easy to identify and I will start unfolding boxes for them, if I can. So Henry and Brian and Noel died before me when I was counting on them to clean out my shelves! I guess the boxes in the garage on S Crane, James, Twain, Mailer and a few others will just be put out on the street but I can't grieve about that. I keep thinking of 2020 when the great men said I was going blind from lymphoma and we had made a holograph will and were arranging for a more formal one. A complimentary letter came and I said, "I want to keep this!" Then all I could do was laugh at myself. All the things we want to keep, starting with life! I am grateful that I have all the chapters of ONE OKIE'S RACIAL RECKONINGS written in pretty good shape, though I have been trying to write a new preface the last two months when I have had faint spells most of the days. Not a big deal, but I would like to finish and polish the preface. Putting the chapters out on my blog and Facebook was the right thing to do. Can you imagine the months and years that press readers would take pretending to read it? It's clear to me that I want to get the pacemaker as soon as I can, but that is out of my hands. I am very glad to be home tonight.