“What is given may be taken away, at any time. Cruelty and devastation wait for you around corners, inside coffers, behind doors: they can leap out at you at any moment, like a thief or brigand. The trick is never to let down your guard. Never think you are safe. Never take for granted that your children’s hearts beat, that they sup milk, that they draw breath, that they walk and speak and smile and argue and play. Never for a moment forget they may be gone, snatched from you, in the blink of an eye, borne away from you like thistledown.”
This is from the book, “Hamnet,” and it certainly applies to all of us, even from the fictional but authentic voice of 1596. So very long ago, so ancient, and so universal. I think of our Earth and all of the unbearable pain that it has hosted upon its soil and it’s watery depths. Not Earth’s fault, of course. Just people’s. And fate’s. And random $hit.
Something that I experienced, once I finished this book (our book club assignment, and it was gorgeously written) and looked up (free at last!), was how very much science-fiction-y (far beyond the imagination of that time) we now exist. Flat-screen picture screens (cameras were a good 200 years away!), the cell phones, the cars and trucks and freeways and trains and planes and space exploration. People haven’t changed all that much, though. People are still cruel, loud, naggy, manipulative, deceitful, corrupt, stupid, gullible—and sometimes loving and hilarious.
Lately, it sure does feel that the good traits are fewer and farther between. I know there was a recent poll taken that showed that most people in the country are now feeling a lot more optimistic. And I agree—having sane leadership is such a relief. But the other side is even more batshit coo-coo for cocoa puffs than ever, and alarmingly dangerous. Sigh.
John has been busy methodically immersing himself in his mom’s affairs, much of which involves stacks and stacks of bills/receipts/statements/notifications dating back to long ago. (She didn’t throw anything away…) It’s an item at a time, a stack at a time, then restacked into some semblance of logic. He had asked her numerous times over the years (including recently) to make a list of her bills and banks and account numbers, passwords, pin numbers, et al, and she always said she’d do it, but never did. It’s gonna take a while to comb through it all. (This below is just the beginning…)
Here’s a picture of both of John’s folks (from 2015). Both are gone now.
