HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME...

Well, it was.

Part of it was the care the Goat took to show me a good time [I think between the food, the wine, the chocolate, and the other treats, the word "orgy" might actually apply]; part of it was remembering where I was a year ago, all the way back in 2007, not to mention my life as a single husband in 2006...

To paraphrase the Who, it looks like 56 is going to be a good year... it certainly is going to beat the pants off the recent competition. Not that 55 was bad—far from it—but most of 56 will be spent in the same place as the Goat. That will do more than anything else to reduce my carbon footprint and thus restore my self-respect...

My daughter is driving down to see me for the day, which is quite unbelievably cool. There was a moment of shock when I realized that my youngest child was not that young any more—in fact, she's all grown-up, with all the chances of heartbreak that entails—but I am just going to relax into the day. I may bring her back to the Weird Little House to watch something cheerful like "Sweeney Todd." She is a bit of a movie maven, and has already seen most of the things I have on DVD, or on my Netflix list; she has on occasion accused me of "making her this way."

The day is tinged with bitterness, in that I just found out yesterday that after all the years of wrestling with his ex-wife over what the end of their marriage would actually entail, our friend Bigg ["East Overshoe Joe"] over at My Confessions has received notice of the court's final decision that will, he says, mean losing his house. Having lost a house that meant most of twenty-five years to me, in a town that had been mine all my life, I can well imagine what it must mean to lose a house you have known all your life, that has always been "yours," no matter who owned it. It is a sad day, a day that could cast a shadow for years. I hope he finds a way to pull some useful rabbit out of a hat, but if he can't... well, I can only say that my heart goes out to him.

The Far-flung Voice has checked in again, and it's great to be back in touch. He has survived divorce, coming out, having other people out him in odd ways, and generally has settled into a new life with a lover, getting a really Full House with his kids there on the weekends. That's good news.

It's always a bit of a blend, isn't it... ? If we didn't know it had been that way from the beginning [think of Adam's lack of solidarity with Eve, or Cain's anger at Abel], it could be crushing. But the shadow comes with the light, and the sooner we believe it, the better off we'll be. No matter where you are sitting at the moment, it will change in time: read a Psalm. You'll see what I mean.

Hang in there, all.
My thoughts are with you, in all your time zones.
C