Old Friends and New

Saturday, I met up with two friends from Edinburgh Uni to say good-bye.
They don't prepare you for this part when you're in school. Friends scatter to the wind. Here I am with Silvia and Harriet at the Waterstones on Princes Street. We nabbed the best table in the cafe with the best view of the castle in the whole city as far as I'm concerned. A fitting place to send Harriet off - back to New Orleans in the states on Tuesday. She finished her MA and is returning home to her partner and doggies and a shiny new job. She's excited and I'm excited for her. Meanwhile, Silvia is commuting for a new job in Glasgow.
     It's bittersweet. I'm so happy for my friends, but I'll miss them. Despite all its evils, thank goodness for Facebook.
     At the same time, I'm making new friends at the University of Glasgow. I attended the:
It was wonderfully interesting and I got to hear my supervisors talk for the first time. Maureen Farrell and Bob Davis shared the talks they gave at IRCL in Toronto that I missed out on, and they were great!
     But even better, I got to meet several of my fellow PhD in Children's Lit compadres. It's a good, smart group and I'm going to enjoy getting to know them. As usual in a university environment, my new friends hail from all over the world - Libya, Pakistan, China, the US, the UK, Russia, etc. We all get along and could teach a thing or two to our governments.

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