Redux, And Beyond.

We are still in here someplace. Under the gray hair, the glasses and the aches and pains these two people are still here, just in case anyone was wondering.

It's an incredible gift to have some one to love for over thirty years that you still are excited about. I am the luckiest man in the universe.

We went to Montreal for our 30th anniversary on July 23rd, a city we had never been to before. It was beautiful.

More Endings, Beginnings and Hope.

Behold: our beloved son and heir, Thomas, named for the apostle that questioned, like any normal human might, but was loved anyway. His has finished eighth grade and now can put the social cannibalism of Middle School behind him. As our youngest it is hard not to want to hold on and wish that they could be ours forever, but we now start to let go. He is sometimes a challenge to be around and difficult for his increasingly elderly parents to understand, but he is the beginning of a fine person, who I am very proud of. We have tough years ahead, but God willing it will be okay.

Thanks for being a good kid Tom.

The End of America, Sadly and with thought...

Because no one reads this-

It is horrifyingly easy to be negative now: it feels that our time as a democracy is very short.  Our change will not be painless but it will be unnoticed by millions who can not look up from their devices. Unless a particularly poignant meme is created, the lights will go out in our republic without a peep from the the electorate. We are being destroyed by a narcissistic monster on a leash from the Kremlin. Soon it will be over, this grand social experiment, where it was attempted to break the power of the aristocracy and money elites, if even just in name only, but they are back and the alpha beasts will be forever in charge of the serfs. The monster can pardon himself (he can't) - He calls the shots on trade wars and tariffs (he isolates America)  and he generally brings a great nation to its knees (not in a good way) to his toddler like will of the moment. Like a indulged child, he is never wrong, but instead insists that he has been wronged. This is not normal, but will be accepted because he has no shame. The phrase "children in cages" should send chills into every person, but because we don't really give a shit about anything but our social media presence we will tolerate it. Resistance,  at best consists of awarding political FB posts with frowny faces. It is the very epitome of evil. Fuck you Donald J. Trump and all you hold dear. May you rot in hell. The crime is that christians (I still consider myself one) have been seduced by the anti christ, elected him and now can not avert their gaze from him. It is over.

Sweet old Dutch guy.

My wife's father, Jules, died yesterday morning.   It was not unexpected or actually unwelcome- his suffering and incapacitation are now over. He was a serious man who was kind and thoughtful. His laugh, when you earned it was genuine.  He wasn't perfect but he was amiable and easy to be with. I felt very lucky to be allowed into his family, and the world is diminished without him. He was 91, which is a long life by all standards but he is still missed.  It's a road we all walk, and a destination for which we are all have advance reservations. Some times it feels futile, but if you have people who love you it doesn't have to be a lonely walk. Thanks Dad. I hope it wasn't difficult, that all the love outweighed the pain.