This will be short. It's getting late and I've got a 9-hour day tomorrow. St. Louis to Akron, OH. Before I leave, though, I have to go to the Subaru dealership and get my electric seats fixed.

If you're just tuning in, the electric controls on my car seats stopped working on the second day, and they stopped working in the middle of moving to a better position. Therefore, I'm stuck in this too high, too close, back too straight sort of place that leaves my back, and my mood, highly irritated. I really hope the seat thing is easy and I leave by 9:30.

I realized too late that I should have planned today better, and made an appointment this morning to have it checked out today, but I'm at my Dad and Babs' and it's really comfortable and its family, and I just wanted to chill. And, then my friend Connie from high school texted and asked if I had time to meet up. So, we had a great lunch (thanks for lunch, Connie!) and caught up -- I'm happy to say that she is gratefully ensconsed in her big family with the right man.

Then, I went to Pattonville High School and walked around and took pictures. It's a very large high school. I graduated in a class with more than 600 graduates. It's even bigger now. However, the cafeteria and the gymnasium are in the same place, with the "popular locker hall" in between. These days, the hall primarily houses the janitorial staff's lockers. But, the girls bathroom at the end of the hall where some of my friends and I snuck cigarettes was still there! It wasn't until I had the iPhone raised to take the picture that I thought about what I was doing...good thing the school po-po didn't catch me.

There was also the PHS Hall of Fame - a wall of photos of high achieving graduates on one side of the gymnasium. And, there in the 1980's was Lance Thornhill (he played state level golf) - my BFF Claudine's boyfriend from back in the day, and photo blocker extraordinaire. And, it appears that our band's baton twirler Heather Smith's dream of becoming Miss Missouri came true! She was sweet, and smart. I'm having a hard time wording this, but the photos looked like the photos on the same wall that I used to look at when I was 16 out of curiosity about the hairstyles and clothes of another era.

Anyway, and more importantly, last night my friend Liz had to euthanize her dog Pig. I met Pig the day Liz and Jon adopted him, and I was one of his overnight babysitters during the last decade. I saw Pig the night before I left on this trip. He wasn't eating anything - and I mean anything. I knew something was off, but I kept my mouth shut. It was obvious and I figured Liz wanted to put off speaking it out loud for as long as possible.

And, at some level, I didn't want to realize that Pig was so sick he couldn't be fixed. You see, Liz' husband Jon died in December -- unexpectedly at age 42. And, her other beloved dog, Shaggy, died before Jon. When I think of what Liz has had to bear over this last year, my mind goes a bit blank. I think that the facts just speak for themselves.

I hope Jon, Shaggy and Pig are sitting at an amphitheatre in the sky listening to Jerry...and getting butt scratches...