Monthly Archives: June 2010

Wednesday – aftershock

Sometimes I struggle for a topic to write about .. sometimes i have so much.. I don’t know where to star. Today was one of the latter. .
The big news of the day was the magnitude 5.5 earthquake that rolled throguh the region at 1:44 this afternoon. I was on a conference call when my whole office started shaking. It was SO cool..  I guess it was centered somewhere in Candada.. but it was plenty strong here.

Here’s a Seismometer reading soemone posted fro somewhere in Canada.

Immediately. Facebook and Twitter just exploded .. It was amazing how quickly the discussion on the quake spread.. One freind sent me this very funny and appropriate XKCD comic about that..

It was a great break in an otherwise quiet (but interesting) meeting..

I got home around 6 in time for us to meet  Peggy. Jen and Tim for dinner.. Peggy is moving back to Ohio now that Devon has graduated. Devan will be at the niversity o fMontana.. (with several others from his MMU class).

We’re really goign to miss Peggy.. she’s been a bright, kind presense in our lives these past four years.. she’s wonderful !

We went to the Cider House in Waterbury.. we had fried pickles.. .. which taste just like they sound..

It was a great night..

The real aftershock in our life.. a nice but powerful one.. was in the mail. Jen B , our friend and the Principal of MMU sent us a Diploma for Sam.. We weren’t expecting it.. it was a wonderful and heartbreaking surprise. . Jen sent us a beautiful note.. She and the rest of the staff at MMU have really been great..

Holding this in my hand was somehow harder for  me than the graduation itself.. I was sitting there crying and both dogs came over to make me feel better.

Our lvives are full and challenging..
I welcomdme all the emotions..Nite folks.. nite sam

-me

ps here’s a birdbath that Gabe helped make at chris’s the other day.  He’s gettign to be quite a stone artist !  I liek having this on our sam rock in the garden.

Tuesday night – hegira

We have a calendar that displays a new word every day. Some are obscure, some are commonplace. Like many things  in my life, I sometimes like to find  significance  in the word the calendar has chosen for my day. Yesterday’s ‘s word was Hegira.. a word I ghenvt heard since Joni Mitchell went from folk to Jazz in the 70’s. I ave to admit I only sort of knew the mean ing of the word. I knew it pertained to a journey..

Here’s what the calendar told me iabotu the word.

he·gi·ra
Variant(s): also he·ji·ra ..hi-ˈjī-rə, ˈhe-jə-rə..

Function: noun

Etymology: the Hegira, flight of Muhammad from Mecca in a.d. 622, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic hijra, literally, departure
Date: 1753

: a journey especially when undertaken to escape from a dangerous or undesirable situation

I was vaguely familiar with the first definition. The flight of the Prophet from Mecca. The second definition was new to me .. It felt meaningful to me.. I am looking for an escape of sorts.. not  from danger.. but from the undesirable state when my efforts are not lining up with my passion and life;s mission..

Reading that..it doesn’t make much sense.. but it makes sense inside me .. which is what counts..

Anyway.. I found the word a good portent..
So.. now what ?

nite folks.. nite sam

monday night – Solstice

Today is the loingest day of the year…. the first official day of Summer.    our ancestors celebrated this day with wild orgys ,  and ritual sacrifices, I settled for several conference calls and a nice salad for lunch.. Truth be told, the day did feel a little longer.. but that might have been the conference calls.    I didn’t even run naked through any woods (though I may go skinny dipping later 🙂

The solstice is one of the very few holidays that man has not created or shaped. It’s an astronomical reality.. whose precise moment may be measured to microseconds.. No popes or state legislatures have ever  messed with the dates, It’s a wodmderfu thing to realize that our ealrliest ancestors had an inling of the improtance of this day.. long before hallmark created a card for it..

For me it  really first day of summer .. after the emotional weight of the last few weeks it feels wonderful to sit here and not have anythign to do (except work)..

I wish you all a lazy summer.. that’s what i’m going for.

As my Wiccan friends say on this date  

Blessed be folks.. Blessed be Sam
-jc

Sunday night – fathers day

Happy fathers day all you dads out there. It’s a funny day.. not one that I every took too much to heart either before or since Sam’s passing. I feel loved and appreciated by my family every day..still.. it’s nce to take the time to mark the dad0 thing..

The thing about today that’s most noteworthy to me is that it marks the end of a cluster of important events…..  all of them imprtant.. soe of the wonderful, others bitter sweet that clustered at this part of the year. Some were entirely positive.. like Max’s birthaday and Gabe’s birthday. his 8th grade graduation and his earning his drivers permit.. others of them were mixed/ bittersweet like marking Sam’s 18th birthday his classes high school graduation   and.. of course Faters day.

we’ve survived.. and thrrived with the help of all the love and supprt we’ve gotten from freinds and family.. and for that.. we thank you all..

This weekend was a good, long close to this eventful couple of weeks. We started in Fort Ann NY . Gabe Diane and I had spent the night therefor Gabes’ All star LAX team tournament.. It was a great event.. great kids, great parents.. ice venue and some really great playing.. I love watching gabe and his new teammates out there..

Gabe gave me a fathers day gift today.. a box of mints that taste like Ranch Dressing wwhich hcih he found in an aptly named ‘Gag Shop’ in Lake George last night.

After Gabes last game.. Diane and Gabe went home with Marcello and Rob.. while I headed East. I wanted to see my Dad on father Day..

I’d originally thought that I was actually closer to my folks house.. but there ar no really good east/west routes there. We settled on meeting them half way I drove 3 hours to Concord NH.. they drove up from Sherborn Ma. to meet me there. We met in a great little Mexican place we found at random on a map. It was  agreat choice. 

We had a great 2 and a half hour lunch and walk there. It was really, really great seeign them.. and gettign to hug my dad on Fathers Day..

My Dad is a wonderful guy.. he’s warm and funny.. and has so much integrrity.. he’s a real mensch. I love him.. I love my folks.. 

I hope you all were able to connect with your dads  and your kids.  either in person, by phone.. or in spirit if that’s the best way you can..

Thanks again to all the folks who’ve reached out to us these past 2 weeks.. It’s helped

nite all.. nite sam.. glad to be your  and your brothers’ dad..

-jc