MountainMornings

Halloween is on the way. Last year we went over to the kids’ house to see the Grands as they left for Trick or Treating. We stayed behind with the hounds to give out candy because our place is a forlorn block of 20 somethings partying. Like other pandemic holidays, All Saints Day this year will look a bit different. And our children are bound to be slightly broken hearted at the thought of a Zoom haunted house.

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway from “A Farewell to Arms.”

At least the Love Bug had her cast removed on Friday. She broke a finger while riding her new bike and avoiding a parked car. I must say she was very proud of her injury; all her classmates got to sign her cast and I even managed my John Hancock – NANA. Maybe she could plant the name-covered cast in her front yard with fake fingers reaching out of the grave grass?

Why is it that kids can just return to normal life, or semi-normal life in this case, after a cast comes off? Start playing and writing and acting as if nothing happened. A few years ago, when I broke my pinky finger carrying the Baby Bug at a bounce house, I had to endure several weeks of Occupational Therapy. Still, my right pinky is shorter than my left, and should I ever resume traveling, my Global Entry fingerprint no longer works, if you must know…

“We are all broken, that’s how the light gets in,” a mashup of Rumi, Leonard Cohen and Hemingway.

Some breaks are easier to see than others. We broke the rules about visiting Great Grandma Ada and Hudson. Children were not allowed to visit outside (or inside for that matter), but some rules are meant to be broken. Ada was thrilled to see her babies and almost got to sign the Bug’s cast, before we were found out.

My brother Dr Jim fell last week and broke 5 ribs. FIVE ribs, and he’s been hospitalized ever since. Luckily, his friends have been wonderful and the nurses in MN are exceptional and can appreciate his unique sense of humor. He is healing nicely and we intend to visit him soon. While he may be in a hospital gown that ties at the back, Jim is still a working psychologist, trying to fix broken souls, wherever he may find them.

Here is a scary picture for Halloween. Bob and I were on a houseboat in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris. Our friend said to do something interesting. But don’t worry, only the Brie was cut and no marriage was broken on this trip two years ago. https://mountainmornings.net/2018/09/06/a-kiss-de-paris/