I had a funny sort of visitation—or cosmic prank?—last week, as I was walking near Venice Beach, California. I was wearing a knit cap that had been Mia's, which I wear all the time in autumn and winter. (Even when she was alive, I somehow managed to appropriate this hat as my own.) I was talking out loud to Mia, playfully asking, "Where are you, Love? Are you in the sun? In the grass? In the trees? In the shade?" I suddenly became aware of something gently scratching the middle of my forehead, underneath the knit cap. It was a ladybug! How'd she get under my cap, right at that moment?

Mia has visited me a few times, usually through butterflies, but there have been a few ladybugs too.

Here’s a picture of me that Mia shot, from 2007 or '08. That’s the cap, there.



9 January 2011 is the 2nd anniversary of our wedding day. Extra-sweet kisses and hugs to Mia today, wherever her spirit may wander.