Have you noticed?

Being down and out with this shoulder surgery, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands to not only finish a huge side project, but to also participate in some hobbies I haven’t been able to fully enjoy for some time. Those hobbies being music, reading, and writing, peppered with a little bit of video gaming. Particularly though, I’ve been drawn back to a lot of writing.

I swear I'm not sucking up to Jerald Ford

When Jerald Ford introduced himself to me, my reply was, “Like the clumsy president. Hmm.” He gave me that look I often get when someone wants to take me out to the desert, bury me neck deep, and pour honey over my head. But he was graceful enough, smiled sheepishly, and said, “Yes, but I’m a better lover.” Having to take his word on that one I left it there and we parted.

Into the 2nd half of the 1st half of the year

Wow. I do this every year. Maybe we all do. December comes and goes and I look at January and say, “Wow. Can you believe we’re already in a new year?” I go through that month where I don’t know how to say the “when” of when something happened last year. Do I say last year even though it’s only last week, or last month? What do I do? Then February rolls around and that takes care of that. No problem.

February and March roll through relatively uneventful and then the first warm days of April come up and give me a swift kick in the balls. Maybe that’s not a big deal where you are, but in Phoenix, AZ, “The Valley of the Sun”, when it can roll up into 115º until September, I try to enjoy every last moment of cool that’s there. And even though I’m used to it, and what was hot then isn’t so bad anymore, that first triple-digit day is only the wake up call for the summer that is near. Like someone reluctant to say goodbye to a lover, I linger outdoors in the early morning and late evening, not wanting to see the parts of the day go that make the middle tolerable.

And here I sit, outdoors, at a Starbucks, without a coffee mind you, because my coffee at home is better, listening to some snapperhead play his rap music for the whole parking lot… is that his kid crying? Geese? WTF is happening right now?!

Anyway, here I sit, outdoors, enjoying the cool and thinking about the Pesach cleaning that will begin soon, the book that is getting finished, and the shoulder that will soon be fixed. There’s a lot ahead of us this year. It’s going to be big. It’s going to be hot. It’s been a long two years for my family… really long. That said, we’ve been fortunate, Baruch HaShem, in a few ways big and small.

Pretty soon I’ll be kvetching at the kids about the door being open while the A/C is on, trying to stay cool while moving between indoor spaces, and waiting for autumn to come again. That’s sometime around October or November for all you non-Phoenicians. Things are probably going to be a lot different by then.

We’re into the year now. Bring it.