Rainy burn

It rained all day--rain, not snow.  It was in the 30's, still is at this hour.  The burn started this morning before I got there at 10, was huge flames and a conflagration.  By the time I got there the burn pile was almost half gone.  Still plenty of flame, and very hot.  I stayed for 2 hours, standing in the rain, but got chilled so went home.  I was so chilled I couldn't get warm for a long time, finally ended up taking a nap on the couch, which did the trick.  Now the living room is 73 and I'm more than comfortable.

I watched a PBS show with Carole King and James Taylor singing songs from the 70's.  Boy did I find that depressing!  Sad songs, beautiful melodies, but they reminded me of sad times.  I thought I enjoyed the 70's but I think maybe I didn't.  I was in college until 1974 and lived with the same roommate all 4 years.  Our relationship got very complicated when another person put herself between us and our friendship ended up being tenuous at best.  This hurt me terribly but I moved on.  My former roommate died when she was in law school, and I have always regretted my failure to renew our friendship.  Of course I didn't know she was going to die, and when she did I was very involved in my life and relationships in Rhode Island.  Anyway, we listened endlessly to James Taylor and Carole King--along with lots of other music, of course.  She liked Jackson Browne, and I found him incredibly depressing in his early years (when his wife killed herself--well, who would expect him to make cheerful music then?).  I had kept in touch with a few college friends over the years, now I'm in daily contact with one (email) and off-and-on communication with another (she lives in Hawaii.  Why haven't I ever visited her?).  That seems sort of sad to me, that was 4 whole years of my life and I only have 2 people to show for it.  As I say, I thought I was happy and having a great time, but maybe that's not really the truth.  I did enjoy college, loved learning so much and had friends.  I just left it all behind, carelessly, I think, when I moved to RI for graduate school and the beginning of my career.  I made life-long friends in RI, people I'm in touch with and visit with.  I had a rich social life there and have good feelings about the 9 years I lived there.  Does everyone have sad feelings about college?