Ten years ago, I started this blog with a post quoting Snoopy as he tried to write a novel. And I'm still trying. I'm actually more like Charlie Brown, a blockhead as Lucy would say. Something of a loner, but like Charlie Brown, not really by choice. I often explain that I'm an orphan in a family of 12 kids.
What to write about in order to mark this anniversary? It IS Christmas Eve but you couldn't tell by my mailbox. So far I have received a smattering of cards from mostly co-workers and former colleagues. I have been saying for years that (my) family is dead, gone, finished. That is the only conclusion I can make when so far (as in many previous Christmases) I have received absolutely NO cards, emails, or texts from any of my siblings, my mother and my son to wish me a Merry Christmas. And I've sent them cards. (I could also mention nephews and nieces). Apparently today it is considered acceptable to not bother. The fact is that no one cares any more, or they are too busy posing as pious and holy ones and can't be bothered with others, especially distant relatives like old Rick. HA! Merry F'ing Christmas to you too (as my former mother-in-law Judy would sometime say, God rest her soul).
But not to worry, nothing new, so it's not a shock to me. It'll pass and "tomorrow is another day" (as Margaret Mitchell said). And frankly I don't give a damn (and she wrote that too).
Behind me in the picture above (captured this evening) is a wall hanging of Hokusai Katsushika's "Great Wave off Kanagawa." It was a birthday present from my pen pal, Satoko, several years ago. It reminds me of her and also the challenges of life and the determination needed to continue; also, there is the sacred Mount Fuji in the background, representing the mysterious divine, distant yet present and watching. One of my colleagues told me that she once visited Japan and tried twice to see Mt Fuji but both times it was enveloped in fog and clouds. So she traveled all that way and never got to see it. And the beat goes on. Tick-tock, thank God.
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| "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" by Hokusai Katsushika |
But overall today has not been too bad. I got the important stuff done that I wanted. I got out of the house and to the post office. And I emailed greetings to many coworkers and a surprising number replied back. I suppose they were like me, time off but still monitoring email, because the work is always there. And what a blessing to know so many of these folks. Yeah, I don't have to live with them (but I do have to work with them). I sometimes get to hear parts of their stories, so it can feel like I have a bigger family than my natural born siblings and relatives. I guess it works out in the end.
10 years. Wow.
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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2010/12/birthing.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mitchell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Fuji
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/12/get-back-to-cuckoo.html
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Written Thursday 24 December 2020.