Addendum to last post....

There was so much information to unload in that last post I forgot 2 significant things that happened this summer. 

First, Cheryl and I spent her birthday together with a beautiful drive to Greenwich, a great bike ride through the trails, a couple of hours on the dunes reading, followed by a great lunch/supper at Point Prim Chowder House.  A great day, overall.

Secondly, I emceed Winston's memorial which was both difficult and empowering.  it was great to see so many people come out to support him.  Andrew read the poem "To the Child" that Winston wrote for him and it was very powerful.... especially the last 2 lines which, to me, sum up life.  The bad is good and the good is grant.  Doesn't get much simpler than that.

To the Child

Welcome to the world my child;

Where idiots sing and laugh and run.
Where wise men hide and lovers fear
And good men taste the salty tear.

I’ll help you down the twisting lane,

I’ll point you to your path and then,
I’ll watch you walk the dusty trail –
With love should you succeed or fail.

And though, my child, your life is new,
There’s one thing I must wish for you –
That somewhere down the winding road,
You’ll set aside your heavy load,
And close your eyes and understand,
That the bad was good,
               And the good was grand.

And I read a quote from Neurologist Oliver Sacks who wrote this piece while he was aware of his impending death.  To me, it sounds like the same pragmatic, literary writing that Winston would have written himself:

“My Own Life’

...Each death I have felt as an abruption; a tearing away of part of myself. There will be nobody like us when we are gone, but then there is nobody like anybody...ever. When people die, they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled. It is the fate; the genetic and neural fate of every

human being to be a unique individual; to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death. Even so, I am shocked and saddened at the sentence of death and I cannot pretend that I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. I have read and travelled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world; the special intercourse of writers and readers. Above all I have been a sentient being a thinking animal on this beautiful planet and this in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure. So, that’s it.” - Neurologist Oliver Sacks, who died on Aug 30, 2015.