Merano,
Sept. 11th
Having
come this far, I am grateful for many things; I am a very lucky guy.
I
owe gratitude to my grand-parents, for their Taylor, Morehouse, Waller and
Cook genes are providing me a platform of health on which I think I can still
think; and on which to travel, crew, X-country skate-ski, and mountain hike.
Yes, I have two artificial knees, a re-built shoulder, two plastic lenses in my
eye-balls, no gall bladder, a “uni-cep” rather than a bi-cep, and only 2/3rds
of a colon, yet here I am drafting this on my 84th birthday while hiking about
the Dolomites and the Texels. And of course, I am especially grateful
for the dedication and skill of Dr. Bruckner (knees), and for the team of Dr.
Walsh (the insistent gastroenterologist), Dr. Hanly (the gifted surgeon) and
the remarkable ICU staff who saved my life at St. Mary’s in Grand Junction,
Colo seven years ago.
I am
grateful to my parents, first for having me in the fall of 1934, the second
lowest birth year of the 20thC, which meant doors easily opened at colleges and
universities I could never crack open today. Second, for their dedication to
educating their children. And mostly, for their values of integrity,
self-reliance, and service which are the standards I test my impulses against
again and again. And for my sisters, whom I see all too infrequently, who share
those values and who are models of artistic and social activism.
I am
grateful, looking back, for enforced national service, back in the day, and my
resulting immersion into the melting-pot of Army life. And I guess I must
admit, ruefully, gratefulness for being born white (though Ancestry says I have
a trace of Benin or Togo in my DNA) and thus an unconscious beneficiary of
wholly undeserved white privilege.
I am
grateful for the counseling and therapy and reflection that fortified me to
break my first marriage and leap into the unknown in search of intimacy and
partnership.
I am
grateful to the karma that brought Ann Janes into the Rotary Club meeting to
which I was speaking — and, thus, into my life. I am so grateful for Ann — for
her curiosity, for her love of outdoors, for her love of music, for her charm
in groups that makes up for my lack, and most for our mutual, unconditional
love that has carried us forward together for 30 years.
I am
not grateful to religions but for the teachings of men like
Jesus, the Buddha, Socrates, Locke, Marx and Piketty. I am grateful for many
who modeled for me leadership, judgment and initiative, people like Jim
McFarland, Pete Townley, Bill Marriott, Bob Anderson, Karen Lane, Sabah al
Dhahar, Bob Hutchinson — responsible people who made good things happen — and
also for those several other associates, who shall remain nameless, who modeled
for me negative values and behaviors to eschew. And I am especially grateful
for many friends — social couples, old chums from Minneapolis, buddies from the
Olympic Club, Horizon House and Pratt — you know who you are.
I am
grateful for the discipline of work, for through it both Ann and I have
achieved modest successes that provide sufficient financial security to allow
us to explore and experience the world.
I am
grateful to Barbara, mother of my three children; despite all, we teamed to
raise three healthy and productive adults. I am grateful that two of them are
better parents than I, and the third, the best uncle any niece or nephew could
want. I am grateful for the spouses they have brought into our lives, and for
Ann’s two sons and their families who so enrich my life. Between us: nine
fascinating grandchildren, one great-grandchild and a second
great-granddaughter on the way.
I am
sure this sounds preeningly self-congratulatory — but is not life so
transitory, change so inevitable, the future so unforeseeable? I am
increasingly self-conscious about being such a lucky guy and so very grateful
for the blessings I have received.
(Posted
22 Sept upon return from Italy since was unable to post from Merano.)
