kvetching up

The End of the Public School Era Saturday, after a ton of work and help from many people, we threw a party for Abby to celebrate her ompending high school graduation. Because next weekend is the 4th of July, lots of people would otherwise be out of town and unable to come, so we celebrated her June 28th exiting from the Seattle Public Schools over the weekend. Lots of people came, almost everyone who we invited turned up. The weather cooperated, in general it was lovely. My relatives, both direct and through marriage, didn't want me doing anything because I had visited the hospital the day before. I didn't stop,  nonetheless. I didn't have to clean up, which was nice.  Abby had a bunch of friends, all of who seemed lovely. The new Weber worked well, and the house is so spacious it was never crowded. I can say that Jenny was sorely missed. She was the consummate host. Abby got lots of cards and money from people, and one special gift. Paul, my dear and thoughtful friend of m...

Arosa, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 2018.   How do you square claiming to follow moral and ethical behavior with supporting a friend who is cheating? How was it Jenny's friends held her blameless and legitimately expected me to suck it up and accept her rejection of the kids and betrayal of our relationship ? I read their texts and emails with Jenny and was always baffled by this. One of these ppl was a school counselor, another two had  MSWs. I say this often, but Sara, Paul, Lisa, Cheryl, Ethan, Laurie, Ashley, and others kept me sane, were rationality defined. Had I only been reading the nonsense of Jenny's friends, I would have been lost to the madness.  They would tell each other that I was unreasonable, that I needed to get over it, that I needed to grow up and accept the behavior. They believed my refusal to do so was abusive. Part of this was, of course Jenny's seemed version of reality--i.e., she lied to them as easily as she exhaled, but it was also this conc...

Leiney's graduation from Central at T-Mobile Park was lovely. The vast majority of her classmates were immigrants from Asia, South Asia and predominantly Muslim African countries. At Western, she was the only person of color in her cohort at Fairhaven. It made it difficult discussing issues of race, which she did in seminar routinely very uncomfortable for her, with kids who were considering the idea for the first time, as a rule. Fuck, even if you don't get it, I do. This is especially true after being surrounded by all the brown and black folk at the graduation. So, bully for her. She hears from UW Bothell soon. Fingers crossed. Abby couldn't come to graduation, she was stage managing Romeo and Juliet at Center School, it was the day before opening night and Juliet called off with an infection post-wisdom tooth extraction. She met us afterwards at 13 Coins for dinner. The wait was 25 minutes, the kids didn't want to wait, so we went to look for food elsewhere. Ivar...

Time Waits For No One, or is it Tom Waits For No One? So much to do and so little time. Leiney graduates this Thursday. Abby celebrates her own graduation Sunday. Abby graduates next Wednesday.  I made reservations at Piccolino's at 5 pm next Wednesday for a family commemoration of the event after Abby graduates. We went there a few times when Jenny was alive, the last time when restaurants reopened during COVID--I am not sure the event. I can remember Jenny being angry with me, although I am sure I don't remember why. Sometimes I deserved her anger--earned it even. Mostly though, in those years of her cheating, her anger toward me went unexplained and was unremarkable. 20/20 hindsight and all that.   I ordered plane tickets for August and Massachusetts. I am not in favor of this move. 3300 square feet and just me and a dog. That sounds like a recipe for the blues. I'm happy for Abby, I am just feeling selfish.   I have to go get stuff for the high school graduation part...

39 years ago today I graduated from high school . 5 days later my best friend since childhood died. He was gone in an instant. It was such a terrible loss for the world. A kinder and funnier person I can't say I've met.  Much love, Corey. I held Buddy yesterday on my lap in our living room as the vet came to put him down. He seemed so normal through the day. Outside, he ran and barked through the fence at who knows what? But his prostate was so large his urethra was pinched off causing him to emit urine like a double kinked hose lets water flow. This made it clear it had to be done. Leiney, Jared and Abby were here too. The vet was very kind. She explained the two step process of giving a sedative and letting it take effect, before administering the coup de grâce. The sedative took a very long time to work, such that Buddy had to get the full dose, which initially we didn't think would be necessary. Holding him as he drifted off slowly, the girls each gave him loving attent...

On pleasant spring evenings, I have taken to reading outside on the front patio. As I do on such occasions-- weather allowing--I took my book and curled up in the plastic Adirondack chair last night, excited to read Wm. Gibson. His writing is pithy, his sentences carefully structured. It requires more concentration than reading a Stephen King novel, but less than the typical Philip Roth joint.  For my next trick, I'll need a volunteer. The last few weeks, each time I sit, within a couple of minutes the Adirondack chair shifts a bit, which I presumed was it settling. It feels as if the legs are spreading a couple of inches. The movement has been--or so I thought--no cause for concern--it always stopped after the initial brief shift. It had become so regular, so routine, I didn't pay much notice to it last night when a couple of minutes after sitting down, the chair began to shift. I imagine this was the attitude Harry Truman had when he felt the earth rumble just before t...

I walked miles every day for months. My route only vary by length, not route. I dropped weight as quickly as FKJ & Masego dropped Tadow . I can see the route in my mind's eye. Walking through Ravenna Park over the converted commuter bridge, past the beautiful and expensive houses that I will never live in. Crossing 25th at Kidd Valley and meandering a block before turning back down toward the Burke-Gilman as it skirts the old workhorse Safeway. Turning up the hill that abuts the graveyard where much of my family lies in repose. I'd turn up, still following the cemetary border and cross 35th and walk back through there, passing the Met Market before heading north and heading north. Sometimes I would go as far as Nathan Hale, but rarely. Sometimes I'd stop at the QFC and get something to drink, but not often. Always, I would be trying to make sense of what was going on in my life, with Jenny. Searching for logic about her living, her suffering, her frame of mind. And losi...