Grown Men Do Cry in Everyday Ramblings

It is just coming on rhododendron on the local flower clock. And first open iris this morning! I took this Tuesday up at the viewpoint by the beautiful totem pole near the Chart House restaurant. But the (white when they open but pink when they bud) bushes that surround my place are crowning now.

Even though it is Saturday I needed to work this morning as we are adding security patches to our main financial systems. I’ll walk with Mrs. Sherlock and Frida in the morning instead of church.

She is doing a volunteer commitment at the church in the afternoon and I was there last night so we figure we’ll go wild and walk instead of going to service.

I went to church to go to the celebration of life for the grandchild of my student who at 15 died of bleeding in the brain brought on they think by late treatment for the rare form of leukemia that shows up in young people these days.

It was packed! Seriously I think there were over 300 people there. This was a transcendent young person who touched many lives locally. The mix of adults to adolescents was also extraordinary. There appears to have been some gender fluidity over the last few years but he was brought into this world as a boy.

A boy that was a very gifted drummer and pretty much everybody from his music school that was his age as well as a number of teachers came.

They played a video clip of him playing drums behind a punk/heavy metal/thrasher type band filmed two weeks ago! Two weeks ago, and now he is gone.

I have never in my life seen so many grown men cry. His teachers, friends of the family, openly weeping as there was a procession of offerings (including a lot of drumsticks) placed on an altar with a picture on it.

His current 9th grade English teacher read some of his/her poetry and a piece written by his/her girlfriend. The girlfriend then sang a gorgeous song for him/her. Her talent is a reflection on how talented he must have been. She sang it barefoot, which apparently was a thing with them.

There was a line half a block long to get into the reception after. The flowers, the food, amazing. It was all very moving.

I was reminded of how much privilege was on display looking at these gorgeous healthy tall young people, his/her compatriots in this adolescent business.

How so much of this is an accident of birth. Considering the young folks losing their lives in Gaza and Syria and Yemen and…

The activism of the Parkland kids and the sight of all these bright beautiful lights coming into their time in the world does give me hope.

Hope in a time of boorish, illiberal posturing and exaggeration.

Bleh. I am planning on spending the day eating healthy food and drinking a lot of water and preparing for my classes next week about the nervous system and how to have a happy one.

I just need to get rid of this bloated feeling I am experiencing right now.

Last updated April 07, 2018