2022? Eh.........

Well, so far it has been anything but exciting 

    The tree is still up, the pictures not hung, and the desk is still a mess.  The two closets have not been organized, still.  Those were last year's tasks.

    But, I did manage a nap.  And I read the paper.  I also watched the second half of a football game of which I had no interest.  I also shoveled the porch off a couple of times.

    Now, Corki is weird.  When there is snow on the ground she often does her duty on the snow covered porch.  So,being smarter than an average dog,  I go out with her and shovel the snow off the porch before she has a chance to squat.

    I have to clear the snow off anyway, so it is no big deal.  And it saves me work, because it is not easy geting frozen pee off the cement.

    At the end of the first day of the New Year, I feel I have not accomplished anything.

    Plus, no celebration last night.  No special celebration today.

    Years ago, before I met Jackie, I had a crush on a girl in one of my journalism classes.  We would walk to class together, help each other with assignments, have coffee in the j-lab together.  Classic crush behavior.  One day I asked her to go see Blow Up, a movie about a photographer who captrues a murder on his camera, but he does not know it.  

    She said yes, and that her boyfriend would love to see it.  So, the 3 of us went to see the movie and that cemented what would be a long time friendship.

    Little Lynn was like a sister to me.  When I was dating Jackie, we would often end up at Lynn's apartment, which was right across the street from the NIU health center.

    We went to her wedding to Chuck, she was godmother to Julia, and we spent nearly every New Year's Day at their house in Western Springs, having dinner, catching up, laughing, and enjoying a friendship.

    This does not have a happy ending.  She and Chuck got divorced, she remarried (to a guy named Chuck!  And he remarried a girl named Lynn!  At least they didn't have to change monograms.)

    We must not have set a good impression at her  second wedding, because we drifted apart.  I tried getting in contact with her, but we had forgotten her new last name.  By the time I finally screwed up the courage to ask Chuck one, it was too late.  She had died a few years before I asked.

    Like with so many people in my life now, I regret not being a better friend and calling her more or seeing her more. 

    New Year's Day has just never seemed the same, even though it has probably been 30 years.  

    Funny thing, when I would travel to the zoo I would pass her street.  I would always smile, because she was that type of person.

    I really don't know why I digressed into such a dark space.  But there is a lesson in it, for all of us. 

    I just hope I learn.

Peace and Love