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35 x 28 1/2″ (88.9 x 72.3 cm) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So here I was worrying about all the details & possible snags on my career moves all weekend, thinking about a job I plan to quit, how they’ll respond, possible troubles, details, etc. et al, ad nauseum. Who cares, really? It’s just details, it’ll all work out. Who cares? As of this evening, I sure don’t.

It’s Monday, Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts. Every year we celebrate the beginning of armed insurrection (“the shot heard round the world“) against the government (“Redcoats” being government troops) when they tried to seize local militias’ ammunition in Concord, MA. We re-enact local militias fighting and dying against government troops who most folks call “The British,” forgetting we were all British back then. Very meaningful, I imagine, for militia types and gun nuts everywhere: fighting for freedom against tyranny! Such romance! The irony had struck me more than once, given how “liberal” and pro-tyranny so many folks assume we all are here. Such assumptions are just so stupid, they really are, yet so overwhelmingly common everywhere.

So there we are, Lily (my 8 year old) and me, spending the day while Mommy works (I’m off) in Lexington for the festivities there. We get some really great frozen yogurt and a sandwich, then we meet Paul Revere, William Dawes and their horses – OK, re-enactors, but the rode all the way put from Boston last night and again today, switching roles so each could be Pul once. Over 20 miles on horseback, all on paved roads, not a trivial contribution really. Lily loves it, so I did too. Great day, sun, spring, and history: what could go wrong?

Boston Marathon 2008 Much better year than this one. (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

Then I checked my damned smartphone, stumbled quickly onto the early vague reports of explosions at the Marathon. When we got home I spent almost two hours obsessing on it  all, wondering who among my contacts might be there, might be dead or legless, and so on. Very bad, very very bad.

Get this! Here I’m getting all bent out of shape over such events of the day and Lily demands – DEMANDS – went go outside and play, after an hour of more of me putting her off for ‘important stuff.’ On the way to fly a kite then play soccer, she up & says “It’s a good day and bad, some people died,” then tells me what Squidward (Spongebob’s neighbor) said on a bad day: “Just roll with it, Squiddy“. Not bad , not bad at all. Go Lily! And I felt better. Not happy exactly, but certainly better.

Thing is, even on a day like this, kites fly just the same. Life still goes on, even when it doesn’t feel that way. The wind blows, just the same. Old folks have much to teach the young, and they us. Life! No asshole with a bomb can take that away, not from everyone. Life will go on despite their hate and evil. It will, it always does.

Thanks, Lily.

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