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100 Years

100 Years

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The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Today we celebrate 100 years since the end of the Great War, World War 1, which killed an estimated 10 million soldiers.

My grandfather fought in the cavalry, and when I went with Mom to Europe many years ago, she shuddered as our train passed through Verdun and other battle sites.

The past not that long past to her, because it lived on through the memories of her father.

World War II is the war that lived in my memory, and in a way similar to Mom’s — because my father fought in it.

But it is World War I we memorialize today, the War to End All Wars (oh, how I wish that were true).   Here are the last paragraphs of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front:

He fell in October, 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front.

He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come.


(World War 1 trenches, 1916. Photo: Wikipedia)

Morning After

Morning After

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It dawned clear and bright today, a marked difference from Monday and Tuesday’s rain and drizzle. The skies had already cleared by the time I reached the polling place last evening, and a glorious sunset was underway, clouds purpled by the setting sun.

A tempting omen, but we’re beyond omens, I think. Or at least I am. What I want is harmony, and yesterday’s election will not produce it, at least not in the short term, though at least there will be a much-needed check and balance.

I do know that I’ve started praying for our country every night, along with the people I love. I should have been praying for it all along, I realize. But it didn’t seem to need it like it needs it now.

Halloween Solo

Halloween Solo

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Awaiting the visit of little ghosts and goblins tonight, and for the first time awaiting them solo. I’ll be on both candy duty and Copper duty this Halloween, and am not quite sure how it all will work except that some chaos will be involved.

I usually see the girls (and now guys) for Thanksgivings and Christmases — but Halloweens not so much. I have an invitation from Claire to come hand out candy at her house, but I would miss the neighborhood kids, three of whom I’ve watched grow up and who will be moving out next month.

So I’ll try to carve the pumpkin and try to keep Copper occupied (or sedated) … and hope for the best.

It will be noble experiment.

A Birthday, an Anniversary

A Birthday, an Anniversary

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The birthday of an oldest child is also an anniversary of parenthood. I celebrate a big one today.

I’ve been reliving the days and weeks leading up to Suzanne’s birth — how I’d wanted her to see the autumn leaves, but how the trees were almost bare by the time she was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on October 23. It didn’t dawn on me at the time that (in addition to the fact that she would be a newborn and focusing no further than the faces in front of her!) we wouldn’t always live there. I had no idea that by her first birthday we’d be living in Virginia, where the leaves have barely started changing in late October.

But here we are — and more to the point, here she is. After years in Africa, Suzanne now lives with her husband only 20 miles away. It’s only one of many amazing zigs (zags?) of the marvelously zigzagging road of parenthood. Which began for me (gulp!) 30 years ago today.

Happy Birthday, Suzanne!

Look, Ma!

Look, Ma!

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I feel like the kid in the old Crest toothpaste commercials: “Look, Ma, no cavities!” I just managed to survive a six-month dental checkup without any request for a pre-six-month return.

“You look good,” said Dr. Wang, he of the “difficult extraction.” Since the almost botched wisdom tooth debacle four years ago, I’ve been through three crowns and one root canal with the guy. He’s grown on me.

When he suggested the root canal, a last-minute decision, I said, “Are you sure you can do this? Remember the difficult extraction.”  He smiled. “No, really, I can. I did three just last week.” This is how comfortable I am with him.

It’s like anything else. We went through something together, several somethings. We survived. I’ve watched as his skill has caught up with his confidence level. His compassion, too. Now he will touch my arm in the middle of a procedure. “We’re almost through. Hang in there.”

And somehow, I always do.

Two Thousand Five Hundred

Two Thousand Five Hundred

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We come now to one of those round numbers I like to celebrate. This one is 2, 500.  I’ve written two thousand and five hundred posts since February 7, 2010.

I began A Walker in the Suburbs during a blizzard. Now I sit outside on the deck, stealing a few minutes from my paid writing day, watching hummingbirds dive-bomb the feeder and listening to cicadas as they pulse with crescendoing sound.

Copper lies nearby at the top of the deck stairs, ever alert, gunning for the squirrel who dares to invade his turf. A gentle breeze ripples the bamboo leaves and the new buds on the rambling rose, which has come back to life as quickly as it appeared to die.

I have no idea why the rose dropped its leaves and no idea how it’s growing them back, but it’s a lovely metaphor for persistence and renewal, two principles of Walker in the Suburbs … which I will put to use as I write the next 2,500 posts.

(Photo of the St. Louis Arch, “Gateway to the West,” by Suzanne Abo)

Science and Miracles

Science and Miracles

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“We are not sure if this was a miracle, a science or what,” wrote the Thai Navy seals of the rescue they had just brought about. I would say the recovery of the 12 boys and their coach from a Thai cave  was all of the above, first the miracle, then the science, then a mishmash of both.

That the world’s attention could be riveted on those 13 unfortunate people, that help could flow in from all corners of the globe, is in itself miraculous. We’ve gotten used to these stories, a little girl falls down a well and we will move heaven and earth to retrieve her, that the wonder of it all, that one story so captures our imaginations that it leaps out from every other shred of news, can be overlooked. But it is a wonder.

And then there was the technical cooperation required to mount the rescue, the assembling of people and equipment, the science part, the daring escape. I think about my own limited caving experiences — crawling between two large slabs of rock in the dark, the beam of my headlamp on pocked stone, thinking all the while what it would be like to be pinned between them. No wonder we marshaled every bit of expertise we could to help the youngsters.

And finally, there is the communal joy that is bigger than politics, bigger than soccer, bigger than national pride. That’s miraculous too.

(Photo: Wikipedia) 

From a Distance

From a Distance

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As the country grows ever more politicized, reading the newspaper becomes an ever more fraught occupation.

I could dive right into op-eds supporting my views, and I often do, but today I didn’t want the echo chamber. I wanted what we don’t have, proof of wise heads.

So instead, I looked deep inside the front section. There was an article on how Congo has controlled Ebola: a sorely needed good-news story. Of all the nations in the world, Congo is the best at tracking the disease. One seldom hears that any African nation is “best at” at anything, so this was doubly good.

Then there was a bizarre piece on strife and lawsuits in the Buzz Aldrin family. His children think he’s losing it, so they have seized assets. He’s suing to have them back.

Buzz Aldrin, the article reminds us, is the second man to walk on the moon. He once described it as having a “magnificent desolation.”

Thanks to this phrase, I’m lifted beyond the Supreme Court decisions and retirements and the upcoming meeting with Putin. I’m looking at the blue marble. In my head, words to the song “From a Distance”:

From a distance the world looks blue and green
And the snow capped mountains white
From a distance the ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight
From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It’s the voice of hope
It’s the voice of peace
It’s the voice of every man…

Lucky Thirteen

Lucky Thirteen

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Just because we had a triple crown winner three years ago doesn’t make Justify’s victory in the Belmont on Saturday any less impressive. He was only the 13th horse to achieve such a feat in the last century. The first was  in 1919, there were three in the 1930s, four in the 1940s, three in the 1970s … then a 37 year drought till American Pharoah won in 2015.

Justify’s jockey, Mike Smith, says the colt has an “old soul.” Not sure about that, but the horse was subtle, sneaking up on us in the midst of other exciting spots news. The Stanley Cup finals, the NBA finals, the French Open, the World Cup. But he didn’t come from behind to win. He led all the way around the mile-and-a-half track, and he made it look easy, which is how all great champions do it.

Celia and I watched the race together in the basement, and we were both whooping and hollering. I like to think I schooled my girls in the important things of life: the thrill of horse racing, especially when a Triple Crown is at stake; the importance of hard work; and the need for enthusiasm.  Especially the latter.

(Photo: This low-res pic made possible by Wikipedia)

Good Night, John Boy

Good Night, John Boy

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I’m remembering Mother’s Days of the past, including my first as a mother, which was also my first day in the Virginia house.  I can remember another a few years later, including a meal at a now-defunct restaurant when the cleaning crew started sweeping around our table mid-meal because the girls had made such a mess — and we swore we wouldn’t eat out again as a family for at least 10 years.

I can remember so many other Mother’s Days with my own dear mother, and how I would sometimes have breakfast with her and dinner with my daughters.

Yesterday I hung out all day with the girls, laughing over old times and new times, buying and planting flowers, sipping Mimosas, sharing laughs and eating way too much yummy food. One of the highlights was when Celia unveiled this Mother’s Day card, riffing on my fave show (from eons ago), the Walton’s — complete with Capehart stand-ins (including dogs and cats). We roared over this one!

Feeling so grateful this morning, so thankful that these smart, funny, beautiful young women are my daughters.