• Arrive in Portland for a fun weekend getaway (up!)
• Oldest daughter immediately gets sick with a stomach virus (down!)
• Daughter recovers so we visit old friends, eat out, and see the sights (up!)
• Return to Seattle and get stuck in mammoth traffic jams (down!)
• A new work week begins (up?)
• Youngest daughter gets sick with a stomach virus at school, vomits twice at home (down!)
• Daughter still sick the next day but wife volunteers to stay home with her. Daughter recovers (up!)
• I get sick with a stomach virus (down!) but I don’t throw up (up!)
• It snows in Seattle over the weekend (way up!)
• But then it melts and a record-breaking rain storm overwhelms our downspout drain and floods Western Washington (way down!)
• Roto-Rooter clears our downspout drain (up!) but can’t do anything about the regional flooding (down!)
• Wife has birthday and we all go out for dinner and cupcakes (up!)
• Later that night oldest daughter vomits entire stomach contents in bed (down!)
• I’m cleaning up vomit in the middle of the night (way down!)
• The next morning she is fine and goes to school (up!)
• Today, youngest daughter gets knocked down in the school yard, hits head on asphalt, school calls to come pick her up (down!)
• The sky does not fall (up!)

So what next?

11 years ago today, on a sunny Saturday at a lake outside of Seattle, Susan and I got married. And the rest is history.

Using “party” as a verb means to revel or carouse, and back in college this typically involved drinking, drugs, and dancing. I’ll tell you which one of those activities was my favorite: none of them. “Partying” to me was synonymous with “having a rotten time with drunk stoned people who can’t dance”. Times have changed, thankfully, and so has “partying” (notice I keep putting that intransitive verb in quotation marks). I’ve made progress developing my “partying” skills, but it’s a struggle, and I still cannot use “party” as a verb. I think it’s really holding me back.

And then today I came across another word, a verb, that was used in such an earnest way that I again realized why I am still uncool and always will be. The word was “clubbing”, as in to go to a series of nightclubs and, presumably, “party” while there. The first thing that came to my mind when reading that word “clubbing” was a white baby seal being clubbed on the head by an evil hunter. So not cool.

I’ll never be one of the cool kids, but at this point I’m too old to care. To the kids out there who are reading this and who also have trouble using “party” and “clubbing” as verbs, I give you these simple words of encouragement, “Rock on! You are totally awesome!”

I met a gin soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis,
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride.
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
‘Cause I just can’t seem to drink you off my mind.

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

I laid a divorcee in New York City,
I had to put up some kind of a fight.
The lady then she covered me with roses,
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind.

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

(Yeah!) It’s the honky tonk women.
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

(Yeah!) It’s the honky tonk women.
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. How did we ever survive?

So the year began with a shave and a haircut. There were ups and downs, the kids grew like weeds on a hot summer day and started new schools (the older one kindergarten, the younger one preschool), we traveled a bit (Delaware, Oregon, California), I turned 36 and started wearing reading glasses, we’re still working the same jobs, we’re still living in the same house, we’re still happily married, we’re all in good health, and no one close to us has died.

I know that you’re bored by how my life has turned out so far. What could be more boring to a seventeen-year-old than domestic bliss? I must say that I envy your certainty. You’ve got it all figured out with your physics and your philosophy and your self-awareness. Pretty soon you’ll be far from home proving that “life is elsewhere” and that you’ve got a lot of living to do. You’re smart and some people will recognize that, and those that don’t won’t matter to you. You’ll make a difference in people’s lives, but that isn’t your motivation, is it? Making a difference is simply the by-product of your aptitude.

Damn, that’s cool. You are one cool dude. You’re like this invisible force in the world. No one can see you but they can feel your effect. Rock on!

I’m not going to tell you what you think is wrong. And even though you mostly deny your feelings, I’m not going to tell you what you feel is wrong. I am going to tell you that you’re totally missing the point of living. It’s about connecting with other people. The thing that’s going to keep you going day after day is the bond you make with your family and friends. It’s that simple. Your mind will be a poor companion over the long haul. Make an effort to bring people in close and keep them there. This will provide you with more satisfaction than you could ever imagine. And another thing: be a good father. You’ll know when you’re being good and when you’re not, so just go with your instincts on this one. There’s a learning curve, but you’ll figure it out, because you’re smart.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc.

Astronaut Gordon Cooper in orbit 100 miles above the Earth aboard Gemini 5 held a conversation with aquanaut M. Scott Carpenter in Sealab II which was 205 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. It was was first time an astronaut in space spoke with an aquanaut.

Makes me wonder just how many times did astronauts have occassion to speak with aquanauts?

Links: Gordon Cooper, Gemini 5, Sealab