2017 Life Logs, Day 309: Son, Daughter, and Me
Date: Sunday, November 5, 2017
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 62, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
My day was equally divided between a focus on my son and family in Puerto Rico, my daughter and family here on the Cape, and me. I’ll begin with Puerto Rico. A friend from high school sent me an email this evening alerting me to a segment on 60 Minutes focusing on Puerto Rico. I missed the segment, but then the same friend sent me a link to find it on the web. Thank you, Veronica. After that missed opportunity, I watched an Anthony Bourdain program on CNN about Puerto Rico. I had never heard of Anthony Bourdain until recently, but my sister gave me the tip to watch his program tonight focusing on Puerto Rico before Hurricane Maria. I felt that Bourdain’s take on Puerto Rico was right on target. It is a drop-dead beautiful island that has been compromised by its association with this country. It is part of this country, but I don’t think most Americans know that or even care. Bourdain’s program made clear that even before the hurricane, the future of Puerto Rico was in danger. But it also made clear that there are young people in Puerto Rico who are fully dedicated to making Puerto Rico survive. I put my son and daughter-in-law in this category and I will be eternally grateful that so many of you, my good friends and family members, have stepped forward to help me support the needs of this family that wants to stay in Puerto Rico. This support is so necessary while Justin and Jo are trying to find a way to exist, while at the same time trying to find ways to help rebuild their island in the post-Maria reality.
I invited Heather, Jed, and boys over for dinner tonight. Jed and Sam returned from their two-night Scout camp out this morning and tonight both showed the obvious signs of sleep deprivation that are inevitable after a Scout camp out. But despite that, we had a nice dinner together before they head into another busy, busy week.
And then there was the focus on me. I started my day going through the Powerpoint presentation I will make on Wednesday of this week. In doing this, I realized that I had totally forgotten to order a laser presentation remote that will allow me to control my computer without having to be right next to it. Alan Kanegsberg had shown me this little device when I was in New Hampshire almost a month ago. But somehow, I forgot to order it on Amazon. So this required a trip to Hyannis today. I’ll try things out in the morning and hope I have it all together.
