My former boss, Steve, just called me. He's one of my favorites. I miss him. He just recently returned from a 3-week business trip in NYC. Hopefully, we'll get together soon and catch up. Just thought I'd blog about that.

On Saturday, Lathen and I went to the estate auction being held by the owner of (almost) our house and had the pleasure of meeting our new neighbors. To the north we have Glen and Peggy, and to the south, Don and Roberta. Are those perfect neighbor names or what?! We also had a chance to visit with Don (the owner) who shared some wonderful, personal stories about the house and some of its belongings. His daughter, Margaret, took our picture with Don. We actually all became very close in a short period of time and I am beside myself that we have been lucky enough to buy a house full of such love. Auctions, I think, are quite sad events. I've had to go through two; one when my Dad had to file bankruptcy in the early 80s (the farm crisis, you remember), and another when he died. It was a bit heartbreaking to watch Don sit there as pieces of his life were being bought by strangers; and it was clearly disheartening for him. My beautiful boyfriend bought Don's hand-made "happy holidays" sign in order to keep up his chrismas tradition and save it from being tossed aside. This gentle act touched me. I sometimes forget what a noble man I have in Lathen. According to Buddha, "Not by harming life does one become noble. One is termed noble for being gentle to all living things". Makes sense to me. absorb.