Hi K,

Hope you are well.  I’ve been thinking about you. I know, I know…. So why didn’t I do something about it rather than just think? I couldn’t un-remember how we left things, or more specifically how we didn’t leave things the last time we saw each other. How our worlds faded, we didn’t collide, we just went off on our own orbits.

It’s been warm here but the last couple of days have been cool. I can’t help but remember how cold June was when we were growing up. May was warm, too hot for school, but June was always cold. At least in my memory which is mixed up with memories of us playing together.

Our energy provider increased the rates and changed the way they bill. They now bill at different rates for the time of day. We got fancy new meters for that. I remember how we’d run through our houses turning lights on and off, opening and closing the refrigerator. Now that behavior would drive up costs. Imagine having to remind the kids not to open the doors. 

That did bring out the solar salesfolk to walk up and down the block and knock on doors. We finally decided to spend time and listen to a sales pitch. Calculating costs at an increasing 5% per year for the next few years it would take us until 2043 to break even and begin to see the benefit of having those panels. I think we’ve finally put the question of solar panels away. Imagine, who’d have thought about our living until 2043. I think of your mom and how Congestive Heart Failure sapped her a little more every day.

We are leaving tomorrow to drive to Maine to visit with our son and family. Everyone would like us to fly rather than drive, but with all the chaos at the airports, we just don’t want to deal with all that confusion. Our compromise was to drive fewer miles each day. Stop more often. Stop for the day sooner. So, it’s going to take us five days to drive from here to there, but it seems to have mollified everyone. 

We are reasonably well, all things considered, enjoying the quirks and annoyances of adding years. I miss you. I wish things hadn’t gone the way they did.

Bingo