20160606.0638

Today marks thirty-five years that my parents have been married. I have marked their anniversary before (here, here, and here), as well as the coincidence of that anniversary with the anniversary of the D-Day assault on Normandy. I remain happy about it, even if I was not able to fund their trip this time--they are enjoying themselves on the East Coast--as I was five years ago, on their thirtieth anniversary. Then, of course, my Mrs. and I had them up in The City and in the best of its boroughs (Brooklyn, just so we're clear), owing to my then-greater access to resources of all sorts. Now, they have my Mrs. and I in their home, as well as their granddaughter, and matters are somewhat changed. But that does not mean I do not wish them well today, as well as on their return trip to the Hill Country, with which I will be helping somewhat. Someone has to get them back from the airport, after all...

Ms. 8 will be glad to see them, I think. She delights in her grandparents, and they in her. She is also adjusting well to life in the Hill Country. Her mother and I are working to that end. Yesterday, for example, we took her to the main local park, where a splash pad and improved playground equipment were installed relatively recently (well after I would have been of an age to use them...). She spent a fair bit of time laughing--shrieking with laughter, really--as she ran around the facilities, even when the footing betrayed her and she fell on the sunlit, water-drenched concrete. When she fell, though, she quickly picked herself up and began to run again; I am pleased to see her resilience, and I think she must have gotten it from her mother. Whatever its source, though, I think it will serve her well in her life to come--not because I wish hardships upon my daughter, but because I know the time will come that she will have to face them, and there is nothing I can do to prevent it.

I can work to ease those hardships, however. Encouraging her resilience is one way. Attending to additional work is another, and there has been some fortunate development to that end. I took on a freelance piece yesterday; it will involve a bit of research for me, but it is the kind of thing at which I excel, so while I expect there will be some investment of time, it is not the kind of time that will pass badly for me. Additionally, I have at least one phone interview today, and I have every intention of going out to fill out another one. Yet others might find their way from me out into the world. One or another of them will, with luck, result in something like a regular job offer so that the Mrs., Ms. 8, and I can return to having an independent home of our own. We are not doing poorly at the moment, to be sure, and I am grateful that we have had the cushion we have had, but it is not the kind of thing that does well to be a long-term arrangement...