2002-04-10 - 10:31 p.m.

Amazing #1: At work today there was a mom who came in with her little girl, 4 years old, to enroll for preschool. We had to turn her away, because we were full, and as she was signing up on the waiting list the little girl was going wild -- just walking around touching everything, never still, never staying in one place, never listening or even making eye contact with any adult, buzzing in an unnatural fashion. My supervisor had the foresight to ask the mother before she left if her daughter had any special needs. The monther said she didn't know, but that they'd taken her to a doctor who said that he didn't know either but there could be something wrong with her mentally. My supervisor called in a specialist on the spot, who came down and diagnosed the girl with possible autism.

What was amazing is that I witnessed true human kindness today -- This little girl could have easily been turned away because our preschool was full - but instead Mary Ann called in someone to look at her. And because of this the child's family will recieve money and social services to help them take care of her, and the little girl will get therapy and whatever else she needs for her autism at her young age, instead of going through school/life with hardship because people think she's just too wild. It really lifts my spirits to know that we're really helping people.

Amazing # 2 i heard on the radio today that scientists have discovered a brand new kind of star!! They found 2 stars made up of "strange matter" or strange quarks -- heavier and colder than any stars before ever, and these stars prove the existance of strange quarks!! WOW. It amazes me to think that even in my lifetime, even in this day and age, stars are still being discovered . . . new theories of everything are still being born . . .WOW.

Amazing # 3 -- This is really not amazing, but is great news! My beloved sister got a job!! I didn't want to mention all the details, but she was going through some really tough times for a few months -- but she got a job and started this week at a very high salary -- and I'm so glad for her, my heart is so much lighter knowing she's safe and sound! Way to go, sis!

Sad # 1 I should have written the sad things first, so that the good things counter acted them. . . because these things are very sad. I'm all a jumble, all a mix inside me right now, but mostly sad --My mom who is a missionary to orphans wrote to me today that some children who were homeless and living beneath the streets burned to death last night. 1 of the children was a boy she knew very very well, who had run away from the orphanage. In Romania there are 150 thousand abandoned children, left to orphages or to the streets. These children were living under the street when a fire broke out and trapped them. There is nothing more to say about this. Its a tragedy, and a disgrace and a shame that we live in a world where we neglect children and allow them to meet this kind of fate.

Sad#2 In perspective, this isn't very sad, or of as much importance as the world's children. But I went to write a letter to Pat today. Finally, after all these months, I couldn't stop thinking about him, I had to write him, I waited until today, and I wrote him about the strange star discovery -- and my email was returned more than once as an invalid address. Apparantly he has changed his email address and didn't email me . . .I am sad that I have lost the only connection I had to him and may very well never see him or speak to him again . . .