Momma and I stayed up until almost 2 am talking. Since I was set to travel back to DC today, I shouldn't have stayed up so late. But it reminds me of the passage in the Odyssey that Dr. Ryan talked about over thirty years ago -- the part about how wonderful it is to stay up through the night telling stories -- especially as life is short -- the idea that telling each other stories is perhaps the most nobel thing in life, the thing that makes life real.

I'm not tired this morning. But I have delayed my departure. Perhaps we'll leave in a couple hours, or perhaps stay yet another day in this heat, as a precaution.