…I was having a gentle conversation with an ancient aunt who turned to me at one point and said, “sweetheart, you’re fucked. Just live.”

“…we were in the midst of two black bears busily filling their bellies with plums and apples in anticipation of their imminent long Winter’s nap. What a gift of a reminder of what is actually going on here: Celebrate! Eat! Get your fill! For tomorrow it will be quiet, cold and dark…for a good long while…”

My younger son turns 21 today. And OH what a morning it is! Already, the chickadees are bombadeering around the yard, rabbits are munching on fallen apples and the fish are voraciously feeding in the cattail grasses, their bright orange tail fins waving above the water like airfield navigation flags for the dragon flies who maneuver in formation above the pond like pilots in an airshow competition. And, as if this weren’t enough, the squash leaves are as high as an elephant’s eye, and it looks like they’re climbing clear up to the sky……It’s that kind of morning.