Let’s see.
Celebrating one kid’s Master’s Degree on his way to a PhD, the other kid’s High School graduation, including a bunch of shiny, heavy, hard-earned medals, rewards for his dedication and sacrifice, with a little talent mixed in.
Planning, shopping (all new winter clothes and everything else you need for dorm living), shipping, moving the youngest graduate to college, filling up his new dorm room, his new home away from home. Lots of minutiae.
Family vacations. Visiting the grad student, because he’s entered the thesis phase, and he’s not as mobile. Other necessary travel. Normal life stuff. Just plain old summer, which is its own thing, and its own challenge. All these, and I’m forgetting at least fifty other things, I’m sure.
Eighteen flights, with at least 29,081 miles flown. Really. Maybe more.
Since high school ended, I think I’ve been away more days than I’ve been at home. If not, it’s close. (If I’m wrong, it sure seems that way.)
Lots of work. Lot of fun. An embarrassment of riches in the kids’ success. No complaints, overall.
Ask me how I’m doing, and I’ll point at my family. I’m doing how they’re doing. Okay, “How I’m Doing” is honestly much more than that. But that’s a huge part of the equation, isn’t it?
If you are not measuring things in cash, I’m a rich man. As far as the cash goes, like everyone else we try and make it work, especially with this kind of $ummer… and don’t forget college!
So we’ve been busy. I’ve been busy. You’ve been busy. But I haven’t forgotten you, or my love of writing. An upside of the past few months is that I have new stories to tell. They’ll be the usual mix of Lies, Truths, and Tales, as the website title promises.
It’ll be a while before I can return to my intended publishing schedule. I miss being here as much as I’d like to be, and I miss you.
I miss our Thursdays together, sharing cocktails, recommending offbeat movies, and sharing weekend places to go. I miss our Fridays, where I usually had some real-life, satiric, or comedic extravaganza (in my mind) delivered fresh to you, in time for your morning coffee. I miss my other posts during the week, and we haven’t checked in on HiddenKatie in a while, have we? We left off on Chapter 10.
We left off on Oldboy, film #3 of my six-film F*cked-Up Film Festival. Hopefully you’ve found a copy or a stream of Oldboy by now. I warned you it would be tough, but it’s worth it. And the festival only gets more depraved from here. When I think of what’s coming, I’m salivating, sharpening my knives, filing my teeth. We’ll continue that one this Thursday.
And can you believe that I haven’t written about dildos or international sex statistics in months?
See you soon! Enjoy, and thanks for being here.