End of February 2025

I have a lot of projects started but unfortunately I am falling short of my goal to get one done every month this month. Maybe I can try for two next month, we will have to wait and see.
To be fair, I did lose a little bit of time this week due to some other things but I don’t like excuses.

A strange month for me. I spent a lot of time doing nothing. Waiting. But also some interesting time talking to siblings and family…
I wonder if in the end it just comes down simply to this: It is unfortunate and usually thought of as somewhat tragic to die young, (this could mean anything under 75 years old these days), or if we are fortunate, we can spend some time having our kids stand around and take turns feeding us apple sauce with a spoon.

I always felt I was raised well, though I never had a particularly close relationship with my Dad. Over the last 40 years, we talked or saw each other less than once a year, if that. That changed in his last four years after we moved him into an assisted living facility. Whenever I was in town, I’d visit him every couple of weeks, helping him fix his glasses by piecing together one working pair from the remnants of several broken ones, finishing his laundry and making his bed if I arrived at just the right time, or troubleshooting some computer issue. Sometimes, we’d just sit in the puzzle room, trying to make progress on a 1,500-piece jigsaw.

I certainly talked to him more in the last four years than the last 35 before that by a long shot.

I selfishly complained to myself about those three hour blocks of time that often felt wasted, but it occurs to me I’ll miss them a little bit.

Here is a pertinent sketchbook page from a couple years ago: