My apologies, dear readers, for being away so long. I'm well. There's a lot to share, so let me start rambling.

Lynn.  The love of my life has been very busy with her interior and exterior design business. Without any marketing or even a web site, she gets more work than she can handle. Every client either already is a good friend or becomes one. Her efficiency was showcased recently at our house. With our new solar array and battery, we replaced our HVAC and ductwork for an electric heat pump. 90% of the gas bill goes away. Most of the electricity is solar. She had the asbestos abatement on the duct work done Monday, the old AC and furnace removed Tuesday and the new heat pump installed and operating Wednesday. We've both had CoVid but the new meds they have now made it easy to get through. 

Writing. Well, it's a long time since the Caring Bridge postings I made every day 14 years ago. But I am actually still writing a lot, maybe more. For the past several months I have been the webmaster of the Mission Viejo Guardian. Besides managing the site, I write a lot of the stories / articles. Link to Mission Viejo Guardian We are covering the activities of our City Council. Policies like sending Council Members to junkets to Paris and voting to extend their two year terms to four year terms without an election catch our attention. We also do more general, local newspaper stories. Human interest, arts, community events along with some editorial-like opinion pieces.

I published Remembering Elena a few months back at Amazon. It's a young adult novel with characters dealing with family members lost to CoVid and military service. I have another disability rehab book, another young adult novel and another contemporary affairs book (working title: Young Lives Matter). I've written some short stories about individuals coming back to their former lives after serious injury or disease. When the collection reaches 8 stories, I'll publish.  

Family. Daughter Emily recovered from the anaphylactic shock she suffered at Burning Man last year. She has reinvented her life after divorce. She freelanced as a veterinarian for a couple years, so that she could completely control where, when and how much she worked.  She has moved into a former commercial space in Oakland with Solomon, a climbing friend who has recently broken up with his husband as well. My playwright self imagines the conversations they might have : "Ugh! I've had it with men...." From two divorcees with completely different perspectives and yet remarkably similar experiences.

Brian will be 60 this fall (how did that happen...). Still flying with UPS, empty nesting with wife Tracey in Louisville. Zach, happily divorced, is between jobs in his graphic design profession, victim of his ad agency's outsourcing work to India. Graham  continues with Analog Corp trying to keep the brand intact and the business thriving in the midst of many acquisitions and mergers. His wife Jean is creating, selling and teaching ceramics. 

Some fun networking among grand kids. Brian's Caroline helped Zach's Amanda and Amanda's boyfriend Jake all work at the same corporate financial services company. Zach's Emma is finishing junior year at high school. Our only grandchild who hasn't graduated college. Another year at the local HS then off to community college for a couple. Graham's Megan is working as a chemist. Lauren is graduating as an art major from Marist. Brian's Josh is a CPA in Maryland. Brother Jack a techie in Louisville. Only Kyle is married. He's on an ambulance squad as an EMT trying to get picked up by one of the big fire departments in the area to get them to support his training as a paramedic. His wife Emely (that's the way she spells it) does tech support for elderly clients.

We were two of the 90+ at a Holmes reunion in NH last summer. We keep in touch with Merrilee, brother Ed's first wife in Tucson. Having my parents and siblings all gone wears on me. We were a far flung family, but I feel lost as an orphan.

Rehab. After Lynn, family and writing, struggling with my broken body still takes up much of my time and energy. I have regular sessions with a great psychologist who helps me manage the dark days when the physical effort seems too much and the prospects for improvement too unlikely. I've been walking fewer steps on average each year for the past 3 years. I have rebounded and am steady at more than 110% of last year's average. I have given up on neuro rehab.  I had the world's greatest physical therapist, but I never adjusted to their routine of seeing me twice a week for only a few weeks then discharging me for 6 months or more. They told me it was insurance for a while, but I debunked that. So, without ever getting what the honest reasoning was for 6 month lapses in my therapy, I quit. It's worked out well. I get one hour sessions of assisted stretching once a week from a Persian who was on a university faculty in kinesiology  in Iran. His foreign credentials don't bring him similar status in SoCal, but he is far and away the most skillful therapist who ever laid hands on me. I'm at the gym every other day. Everything is maintaining and some things get a little better. 

I hope this news finds you all well and finding joy each day.

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