All it takes is a few people to say “Oh you’re turning 50, I’ll send you 50 postcards” to turn a normal mail day into a postal snowstorm. Which is to say, I greatly enjoyed getting all this mail. I think yesterday may have been the first day I had a mailbox without a postcard in it. It was a great celebration and an all around good time. Thanks to everyone who wrote.

For some reason I’ve been busy. I say this every time like it’s a surprise, but this time it really sort of is. I decided “No airplanes” for the rest of 2018 so I could chill and not get into a talk-agita phase. So I assumed I’d have tons of free time. No! Lots of meetings, most of them fun. Helping plan the future course of the VT Library Association, the Randolph Conservation commission, and giving privacy talks in VT and NH.

It is nice to know I’ll be around for all of October and won’t be writing one of those plaintive “Why am I leaving Vermont in October?” posts. That said, Grace Paley had some stuff to say about this. I heard this poem at my first official Vermont Humanities Council board meeting which was more fun and more interesting than I thought it would be. I hope we can do great things.

Side note: I think some of my optimism and good cheer can come from the fact that I had SHINGLES (Welcome to 50 Jessamyn! Why thank you, it sucks) which was, briefly, an incredible amount of pain that I am no longer in. So every day I wake up painless, I am thrilled. My over-50 friends, get your vaccinations!

Here are some Fall Equinox Greetings from my good friend Matthew. I hope the season is treating you well.