May 2: Sleep More Easily, Poetry Assignments, No Cartoons

It was in fact a blessing.  An ability to sleep more easily and deeply had come to him during the past few years.  Where he used to toss and turn and drive his wife crazy at night, no sooner would he now lay his head upon the pillow than he would fall asleep.  But not into that sleep of old age, but into the sleep of a child, an infinitude of possibilities swaddling him.

I love that description of the sleep of a child, full of "an infinitude of possibilities."  Ives, in his old age, has rediscovered hope.  That's what possibility is all about.  Instead of focusing on the heartaches of the past, Ives is now looking forward, even in times of rest and rejuvenation.

I look forward to that kind of sleep tonight.  This morning, I graded a pile of poem explications from my poetry class.  This evening, I graded a stack of book reviews from my poetry class.  All of the hard work is done now.  All that's left are the poetry portfolios.  I've seen the poems before.  I've helped them with revisions on several occasions.  It will not take me long to grade them.

Therefore, I have no burdens weighing on my mind tonight.  Tomorrow, I will watch my daughter dance again.  (She received an Outstanding Award for the dance she did this afternoon.  That's like a Gold Medal.)  Then we're going to do shopping.  I plan on buying a few shirts for work.  Maybe some vintage tee shirts.  After the shopping, it's the Outback Steakhouse for dinner (my daughter's choice--she's a little carnivore). 

In short, the rest of the weekend, for the most part, is pleasure.  Even grading the portfolios--pleasure.

There will be no new cartoons this weekend.  I have no energy to be funny.  The only thing I have energy to do right now is eat some M&Ms, maybe watch a little SNL, and go to sleep.

An infinitude of possibilities swaddling Saint Marty.

I see a martini and rack of lamb in my infinitude of possibilities