Sweet and Sour

I didn’t realize at the time that as Rebecca and I lunched in Oscar’s plaza yesterday, it was the last of such occasions. She has decided to join her sister and brother-in-law in her hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona. Her present plans are to pursue a degree in education (following in her mother’s footsteps) while sharing her gifts and talents with that northern Arizona community. This is as it should be. According to Piaget and others, the goal of parenthood is to raise autonomous, independent children that will go into the world their own person. I feel that Mary and I have satisfactorily met that objective in two beautiful, intelligent, and loving women by whom the world is made a better place. That doesn’t make letting go any easier. I am grateful for albeit a brief period of time that Rebecca and I have worked across the street from each other. In many ways, I am envious of her freedom to move on as I dig my trench of social security ever deeper. I knew that the situation would be fleeting—which it was—but that enabled me to enjoy and appreciate it all the more. Now I can only admonish the residents of Flagstaff to treasure my wonderful daughters.

PS
Speaking of my wonderful daughters, I owe a word of thanks to Rachel for rescuing Tuesday’s post from its “lost in cyberspace” status. Perhaps I haven’t paid my e-blogger dues (this is my warped sense of humor; e-blogger is free :-) but something was preventing my ability to publish. My fantasy is that W finally got word of my open disdain for his imbecility and attempted to censor me, but the sad truth is that I’m just an old man that needed my daughter’s help. Thanks, Rachel!