How can I still have this much to do?

Getting ready to go can take a couple of days. I am making a couple of lists of things that I need to do or take for our trip.

Caroline is getting excited about visiting her grandparents. She is telling me the DVDs she wants to watch along the way.

The cats know that something is up and are sticking close to me wanting pets and assurance that their humans still love them.

It is a period of waiting with a lot going on.

I am grateful that my husband is such a wonderful human being.

RIP George Latshaw

One of the first books on puppets I checked out of the library repeatedly when I was a kid was entitled The Complete Book of Puppetry by a gentleman named George Latshaw. It showed me how puppets went together. I learned a lot from that book and I check it out a lot too.

Fast forward a number of years later and I am working at the Center for Puppetry Arts in the Museum. George comes through during the summer program and is performing one of his shows. We had in the museum one of his puppets named Wilbur who he had used in a number of his shows. The director of the museum asked me to get the case off of Wilbur for George. George picked him up and greeted his old friend. I had a delightful afternoon talking to George about the various puppets in the museum and the general history of the world of puppetry. I have fond memories of my afternoon with George and I didn't know until later exactly how much of an honor it was to do so.

George was an educator and a champion for puppetry. He touched many people's lives over the years. He trained a lot of puppeteers over the years. Always willing to talk about puppetry, he communicated with puppeteers all over the world. He was the first editor for the Puppetry Journal which is still published today. He was a firm believer in the power of the puppets.

I heard through a list I am on that George passed away on December 19th after a long illness. My sympathies are with his family including with his wife Pat, sons Chris and Michael, and the rest of the Latshaw family.

Our world is a little darker for his passing.

I am grateful that I did get to meet him.