Solstice 1998

December 21, 1998




Dear Ones,
What a year it has been…how can we even approach summarizing the changes that have been wrought? Those who say “We can’t.” are clearly engaging in wishful thinking, but you don’t get off that easily, and so off we go with my yearly effort in that regard. You know, in my business, people frequently ask me, “What is wrong? What is really going on??” They clearly suspect some unstated underlying cause for their symptoms and the state of the world in general. I always tell them it’s all in their head, whether it is or it isn’t. But we both know better. It is el Nino. I just can’t trust them with the knowledge, or they would surely go mad. Or madder, as the case may be. How else to explain these 75 degree days in December? What about the stock market hitting new heights while my particular mutual funds continue to swirl in the toilet? How about Newt Gingrich resigning without being under indictment, or Al Gore in saffron robes refusing bulky unmarked envelopes? Or a successful hockey team in Phoenix? Or a President impeached for terminal stupidity? Duuuhhhhh. Gotta be el Nino. No one wants to face the chilling truth, but ignoring it won’t make it go away. And if not el Nino, then la Nina, whoever she was. Jesus’s secret twin, separated at birth?? What’s up with THAT? I am also lost on what city the Cleveland Browns are playing for these days, and why anyone cares. Oh, and basketball, America’s game??? Five nights a week with nothing to do but watch “Married With Children” reruns? Too terrible to contemplate. The V chip in our new TV has blocked out C-Span for obscene content, so the choices get pretty thin pretty quick. But anything to avoid facing the gut-wrenching realization that both Michael Kennedy and Sonny Bono were murdered by the Sierra Club. The truth is out there…Unfortunately, the truth is that Big Time Wrestling and Jerry Springer are now the two most popular shows on TV, and we are left to figure out how to live in this culture. Amazing.
Well, weather and politics aside, we have had an interesting year. At least to us. We sold Kathmandu to a lovely couple from California, who plan to sail off into the sunset. What do they know that I don’t? I am already feeling bereft and useless. No longer a Captain, a hapless landlubber. Catherine is already talking about the next boat. Bigger, of course, and newer, and maybe in this, at last, will we sail off into the sunset. We did get out from under credit card debt this year, and are struggling mightily to stay that way, by not buying anything not deemed a necessity. It has been great to keep all that interest from the multinational banking conglomerates, even as they beg us to charge more and more. We are doing our part to piss them off.
Catherine is hotly engaged in learning computers from the inside out. She is enrolled in a course to make her a Microsoft Systems Engineer, and is apprenticed at a local computer store, where she is learning to assemble systems from bits, (or bytes?) and to curse like a sailor. At least we can still do that part of sailing. She knows about DOS, and what to do with a dot-prompt. Very impressive to fools like me. She is finally admitting she likes our dog, Darwin, which is a major victory. She even likes me these days.
Hannah is 12, in the 7th grade, feeling a little bit out of place in the world. Her burning ambition is to go to public school. (Aim low, it makes it a cinch to hit your target.) So we tussle with the usual pre-teen doldrums. She has begun with braces, and had an all star year at 2nd base, and remains a sly, closet humorist.
Everett is in 5th grade, ten years old, and growing up slowly, against his will. He has restarted piano from scratch, and fortunately has decided to keep his day job. He has a 2 foot long iguana named Spike, who is very green, vegetarian, and a lizard of very few words.
Michele is back with us temporarily, providing lessons in Gen-X cultural sensitivity. And being Big Sis to the little guys. She wants to visit the south seas by boat, so she participates actively in daydream planning, while reading philosophy and pondering career possibilities.
Nathanael is on his own at last, and doing well, working at Blockbuster at the moment, and going to college. He is enjoying this renaissance of academic interest and stimulation, and actually studying. Amazing.
As for me, I am working hard, as always. I have taken my own advice of last year, and begun jogging again, inspired by Catherine’s dedication. And thus have I lost 22 lbs. Jogging is a gentle overstatement of fact. There is much more up and down and not much forward motion. “Jigging” might be closer. But, hey, at least I am out there, and at least now I can explain all the aches and pains I used to have anyway, but couldn’t justify. I had a brief fling with youthful vigor this summer, going on a mountain biking trip in Utah. I did train up for the trip, and went emotionally prepared to walk my bike up the steep parts. What I never anticipated was having to walk my bike DOWN. It was steep, narrow, bouldery, gravelly, exposed, with sharp turns, high cliffs, and thin air at altitude. The kind of terrain that makes a horse nicker and shy away. Oy, so much fun I never imagined. But I made it, pounds lighter, (some of that due to loss of skin) and a little proud of myself for having survived. Never mind that several people a decade and more older than myself left me in their dust. It was a good crew to ride with, and I was a good caboose.
At work I am doing my best to keep a positive attitude about humanity in general. But it is difficult. I am being battered nightly by overwhelming evidence that people are basically stupid. Sampling error definitely biases the picture I see, since I see people after calamities, and calamities happen more often to stupid people. I do love the stories, each more amazing than the last. But constant mind-boggling does tend to numb the senses to misfortune. Oh, WELL…
So, long suffering readers, as we ride our tilting planet back towards days longer than long nights, and the triumph of mosquito bite over frost bite, I send you greetings on this solstice, and our wishes for your continued good fortune. May you walk the paths of righteousness, but avoid self-righteousness; may you thrive on chaos, relish what order you can create within the madness; avoid congressional investigation into your distant past, and may journalists and special prosecutors find your life too boring to pause over, even though you constantly flout the laws of Thermodynamics. May your garden produce fruit you forgot you planted, and may the rest do well, also. May your cholesterol remain low, your blood pressure even lower, and may the cares of the world not cost you too much dental enamel. May your fans be legion, and may your detractors find themselves in my ER. May your children grow again to love and believe in you, and may you hang in there until they do. Meantime, feel free to commiserate with us. Write, call, “e” or visit. Peace to you and all you touch.
Love, regards, whatever,