If it's Monday...

It must be my birthday. Hey, I’m 75 and still kicking!

A part of me can’t believe it, that all these years have passed, and I’m still at it, doing what I started at age 20, but another part of me feels like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Writing is what I do, and I love it.

The other big event is our arrival in Milford, PA — we moved in yesterday, spent the first night in our new house, explored the little town and went to Lowes today to get the kinds of things you need when you move into a new house. Settling in is going to take awhile. Tracy and I packed up over 100 boxes in Springs, and then the movers came and packed some more, so I’ll have a box cutter in my hand for the rest of the week at least. But the big stuff, the furniture and Tracy’s paintings, and our bed and chests of drawers and so forth are all here and in their places. I’ve done this more than a few times. Growing up in the army, we moved into 22 apartments and houses by the time I left home at age 18. Tracy’s father worked for the Department of Defense and she lived all over the world, too, so moving comes naturally to both of us. It feels good. A new town, a new house, new friends, new sights, new shops and restaurants, and today we discovered that an auto repair shop is a block and a half down the street, so we won’t even have to drive each other to pick up our 20-year-old cars when they go into the shop for the repairs that both of us know will be inevitable.

It’s kind of a miracle, really, to have lived this long and been to so many places, to have three wonderful kids and a lifetime to look back on not only with pride, but with delight. I understand that during my brief absence things have been happening in places like Washington D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, and I’ll be catching up with them tomorrow. But for tonight, Tracy and I are happy to be exactly where we are.