• I took my Mom (she’s 83) out for Mother’s Day brunch today downtown. As I walked up beside her after we’d parked, pulling on my jacket (did the suit and tie thing), she said in that motherly way, “A gentleman walks on the outside.” As I adjusted my position in the formation, she added, “And keeps his sword arm free.”
• A harder subject to address; I just read yet another thread written by a high schooler whose anxieties about getting in to a good school on a good plan with a great career path in the crosshairs are evident. And I never respond to’em because I don’t know how to tell them that, yes, you probably ought to be doing all the things you’re doing and be taking care of this and that, BUT, OTOH you can get to manny versions of a good life outside of the paradigms you work with at that age. I guess I don’t try to express that because I don’t want to accidentally impart the message that you don’t need to screw with this or that. I’m going to avoid getting into the essay I can envision; I’ll just say to all our teen members: Life can work out to be really quite satisfying even with manny a booger accumulated on the cowcatcher.
• If the board goes to subscription (read all about it) I’ll probably stay, for at least the first term, but I suspect what some have predicted will happen - we’ll lose both the influx of ever-enjoyable new additions plus manny of our current crew. What’ll I do about the friends I’ve already made? Without the board in all of our lives, will I ever see my IRLs again? Oh well, as with so much of life, we’ll see…
• Perhaps I should work on that essay…