This Is Me

Today is my 52nd birthday. And in the spirit of starting fresh with a new year ahead of me, I think it’s time for me to share a different side of my writing. I’ve thought about writing a blog for a long time, but it’s always felt so daunting. When I recently asked my twenty-something daughter if people still read blogs, her answer simultaneously comforted me and made me feel old. According to her, blogs have become sort of “retro cool.” Once past feeling somewhat shocked by her response, I was convinced that now is the time. Retro is cool!

So I thought I’d start by describing how I’m treating myself on my birthday before diving into some of the thornier issues of the day:

1. Coffee with one of my daughters
2. A crepe at my local coffeeshop (chicken, pesto, mozzarella, tomato with the addition of goat cheese . . . yum!)
3. Some video gaming (Fallout 76, with a dash of Horizon Zero Dawn)
4. Pizza for dinner with my other two daughters
5. Visits and drinks with some close friends at my place

Wow, that all sounds pretty damn good! Happy Birthday to me!

Now for the “other” stuff. As I embark on this blog, I think it’s important for readers to know where I’m at emotionally, physically, and spiritually, especially after the turmoil of the past four years.

I’ve taken this directly this from my dating bio, which in hindsight might explain my current lack of a dating life—but hey, it’s real. Here is what I know:

• There is no normal. Whatever normal used to be, we are about ten miles past that. We survived four years of daily abuse by an ignorant psychopath who took up residence in the White House, a man who fashioned himself as some kind of neo-Stalin but who in reality made Mussolini look like a super-genius.
• We survived an insurrection (still ongoing behind the scenes), during which we came about five minutes away from losing our democracy.
• Let’s not forget the isolating joy of an endless pandemic, which continues to be spurred on by political lunacy and an alarmingly large number of covidiots.
• And as if that wasn’t enough, the world is literally on fire.

Yes, things are pretty grim, but we haven’t lost on all fronts. There have been silver linings and victories both large and small. Here are some that I can personally attest to:

• For those of us who work in offices, we’ve learned (for those who didn’t already know) that working on-site full-time is pretty dumb and pointless. Working partial weeks in the office, or completely from home, reduces car pollution, gives people more time back to their lives, and reduces stress. My company’s leadership was stunned to find out that not only could we function off-site, but we could perform just as well if not better. Duh! (Smack to their collective executive foreheads.)
• Resorting to video conferencing for just about everything opened the door for us to reconnect with friends and family who are far away.
• Those of us with teenage kids got to spend more time with them (while they can still manage to be in the same rooms with us).
• The pandemic has pushed us to plan creative vacations, reigniting the “road trip,” popular for so many of us when we were growing up. I’m waiting for station wagons with fake wood paneling (á la the Family Truckster) to reappear on the freeways of America!
• We have a new administration in office that not only cares about the rule of law and democracy but actively works to strengthen it for everyone. (If you disagree, this might not be the blog for you; however, it isn’t my intention to make this a political blog, so you could just ignore those posts and look forward to my others). Some future blog post titles include “A phone call is a partnership” and “My cats hate me.”

And that seems like a good place to stop. Thanks for reading! And check out my published fiction page!

-Dave