December '23 Book List

 Eight books read this last month of the year. That's a total of 89 books read in 2023.

The Edge by David Baldacci is his newest book and a follow-up to the 6:20 Man. Both feature ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine.

Shadow Dance by Julie Garwood is the first book I've read by this author and apparently it is #6 in her Buchanan-Renaurd series of romantic suspense novels. It was good enough I may read more - going back and reading them in order.

The Never Game is by Jeffery Deaver, also a new author for me. This series features Colton Shaw an investigator who makes his living by finding missing persons and collecting the rewards offered. This is the second book in the series but my library lists it as the first and does not have the actual first book, Hunting Time.

the New Girl and The Order are #'s 19 and 20 in the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva. I am nearing the end of reading all the books the library has in the series with the latest released in July.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawton is only the second book I've read by this author and my favorite read this month. I would read all her books if the library had them. This book is the story of a midwife/healer in the territory of Maine, along the Kennebec River in 1789. It is based on the true life story of Martha Ballard and her determination to see justice done during a time when women were to be seen and not heard. I adore well crafted books based on real historical happenings.

The Goodbye Man and The Final Twist are books two and three (or three and four) in Jeffery Deaver's Colton Shaw series. I believe the latter is the last book of the series. I plan to read more of his books possibly the Lincoln Rhyme series next.

The year, as always, has been a good one for me for reading - the other thing, besides traveling, that I wanted to do the most of when I retired. I'm looking forward to more good reading in the New Year. I hope you are as well.  Happy New Year! 💝😍

January - December - 2023 Through My Photos

 

January 18 - Moisture on the bare limbs of the Oak tree.

February - A trip to the Children's Museum in West Des Moines to celebrate the 2nd birthday of my youngest great-grandson, Louis.

Pictured here with another great-grandson and cousin of his, Greyson.

What a fun day it was.

March 14 - A sun pillar during sunset.

April 14 - At one of the most beautiful and joyous weddings I've ever attended - that of my granddaughter Dominique and her husband Ian. My great-grandsons (Dominique's nephews) Greyson, left and Ayden, right, were the flower bearers. The burros were part of the owners' berry farm and celebration venue.

May - While working in my flower beds - one of the largest garter snakes I've seen here - and possibly ever.

No I wasn't afraid of it - but it's sudden motion did startle me. 😅

June 6 - A Tuesday. The first and last day I walked at Lake McKinley this year.

The picture is of Boneset amid some rocks along the shoreline. I was enjoying my first walk of the season after successful PT for vertigo. Minutes later, my accident/fall and the end of my outdoor walks for the rest of the year. 

What an experience, including a life flight to the trauma center in Des Moines.

July - Three turkeys in the back yard.  Their iridescent feathering is a delight to witness close up.

August - Rain drops and a spider's web combine and link two of my rocks. Part of a geode? on the left, petrified wood on the right.

September - A Great Blue Heron down at the pond.

This is not an unusual sight, we see them often, but I do think this was a good photo - caught as it was in the sunlight and amid the grasses.

October 20 - Not a walk in nature but a drive around town searching out and photographing the colors of Autumn.

This one, the red leaves of Virginia Creeper on the shaggy gray bark of a tree.

November was a big month for me - celebrating my 80th birthday with almost all of my family members. I could have shared a photo from that day.

Instead it is this one of a coyote trotting past our deck. I had seen it, the first one ever around here, a few days earlier in the field across the pond. But this close?! Wow!

December - It was hard to chose between this photo of the waning full Cold Moon taken this morning and one of some tracks in the fresh snow of a few days ago.  But I went with this one because just like the moon, the year is almost over.

Two things have cut down on my picture taking, one the accident in June and two, my trusty little Nikon Coolpix S7000 camera no longer takes the sharp photos it used to. So maybe there is a new camera in the offing in the new year. That would be a no brainer of the same camera was still available.

But the new year is yet to present itself and who knows what lies in store. May we all have more ups than downs and more acceptance of what is instead of worry for what might be.

Arranged By Chance

 

Some Trees By John Ashbery

These are amazing: each
Joining a neighbor, as though speech
Were a still performance.
Arranging by chance

To meet as far this morning
From the world as agreeing
With it, you and I
Are suddenly what the trees try

To tell us we are:
That their merely being there
Means something; that soon
We may touch, love, explain.

And glad not to have invented
Such comeliness, we are surrounded:
A silence already filled with noises,
A canvas on which emerges

A chorus of smiles, a winter morning.
Placed in a puzzling light, and moving,
Our days put on such reticence
These accents seem their own defense.

(Photo taken this a.m. -- our first snow covering all this winter season.) 

For All That Was Left Unsaid

 Mom on her 80th birthday - January 1999

For Grief By John O'Donohue

When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you gets fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence.
Your heart has grown heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded others too,
No one knows what has been taken from you
When the silence of absence deepens.

Flickers of guilt kindle regret
For all that was left unsaid or undone.

There are days when you wake up happy;
Again inside the fullness of life,
Until the moment breaks
And you are thrown back
Onto the black tide of loss.

Days when you have your heart back,
You are able to function well
Until in the middle of work or encounter,
Suddenly with no warning,
You are ambushed by grief.

It becomes hard to trust yourself.
All you can depend on now is that
Sorrow will remain faithful to itself.
More than you, it knows its way
And will find the right time
To pull and pull the rope of grief
Until that coiled hill of tears
Has reduced to its last drop.

Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And, when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.

Today is the 20th anniversary of my mother Ruth's death and while the raw pain of her passing has lessened over the years, missing her never goes away. Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of her.

This photo was the last one ever taken of her. I am fortunate to have it. It was taken at the Christmas Tea for the residents of the Good Samaritan nursing home in Villisca nine days before she died.

I turned 80 myself this year, so I have a better idea what Mom's last years were like. 

It isn't easy getting old, but it is interesting - and a privilege many don't have.

Grandma Delphia and her VO5

 

It was while I was in the shower this morning, putting conditioner on my hair and thinking about a sitcom viewed recently where a woman lamented about how many minutes she had to wait before rinsing out the conditioner that I remembered Grandma Delphia and her devotion to Alberto VO5. I'm guilty of not waiting that long so I probably don't get the full benefits of my conditioner. But Grandma Ridnour left her conditioner in which I guess it was designed for.

And just as I once wrote about my Mom shampooing and conditioning her Dad's (Grandpa Joe's) hair https://rilynam.blogspot.com/2010/10/grandpa-joe-and-fred-fitch.html I realized she had done the same for her Mother.

I remember watching her shampoo grandma's hair as she bent over the kitchen sink; how Mom would rinse out the shampoo and then apply the VO5 except that instead of rinsing it out after a few minutes, it was left in Grandma's hair. I always thought it looked (and maybe felt) greasy. I knew it was something I would never use. But Grandma swore by it.

In the process of searching to see if VO5 was even still manufactured, I learned what the name stands for - the five vitamin oils in it: Sunflower seed oil, Mango seed oil, Sweet almond oil, Rosemary leaf oil and Chamomile flower oil. I don't remember how it smelled, but it must have been very good. The vitamins include B3, C, E, B5 and Biotin. 

I do remember Mom trying VO5 for awhile, but not always as Grandma did. And even though years later, when I began doing the same shampooing and conditioning for her as she stood over her kitchen sink and then drying and curling her hair for her.  I don't remember what shampoo and conditioner she used in those later years and I probably didn't think of it as a gift of love and care as I now realize, it was just something a daughter did for her mother. (As the mother had once done for her daughters.)

I took Mom's electric curling iron to the funeral home and did her hair for her one last time. I did it for her and for myself - the last thing I could do for her. 💔

Some New Old Photos

I don't know if others care about photographs as much as I do, but I love them. They are treasures to me. Especially ones I've never seen before. My cousin Barb Drake died recently. Yesterday her husband Larry sent me a packet of photos via his and Barb's daughter-in-law Kris. I became acquainted with Kris when her mother moved in across the street from us. 

This is the first photo I scanned and the one that truly elated me - a picture of my Grandmother Bessie Duncan  and her little brother Leslie. 

Grandma was born in July 1891 and Uncle Bus (as we knew him) was born in January 1894, so Grandma would have been around two and a half in this picture. 

I had never seen a photo of my grandma as a child. Truly precious. And I love the way she is holding her dolly.

Another pose of the two of them. Grandma was the eldest of six, two girls and four boys.

Bessie, Leslie, Lawrence, Lloyd, Agnes (Babe) and Ralph.

Back row LtoR, Agnes (Babe, as she was always referred to) holding her daughter Hazel. Ethel (Leslie's wife) with daughter Elvera (Barb's mother) standing in front. Grandma Bessie with daugher Leona (my aunt) in front. Ruby (Lloyd's wife) with Lloyd in front of her.

Front row LtoR Buelah (Lawrence's wife) and son Darwin, Edwin son of Lloyd and Ruby and my dad, Louis. 

Picture was taken at Grandpa George and Grandma Bessie's farm home in Taylor County.

Taken at same location, but in March, 1941. 

Left to right, Aunt Leona, my Mom, Ruth, holding my brother Ronald. Elvera Duncan holding her little sister Marjorie.

Grandma Bessie and Aunt Ethel standing in back.

LtoR: Edwin Duncan, my dad Louis Lynam, Ronald Figgins, Uncle Leslie Duncan, Uncle Herman Figgins (Babe's husband), Uncle Lloyd Duncan. 

The occasion was during WWII when Edwin and Ronald were home on leave.

Grandma with her brothers, July, 1972: Lloyd, Leslie, Bessie and Ralph.

Also in 1972 in Grove Park (Play park) near Grandma's house: Uncle Lloyd, Grandma, Uncle Bus.

Lastly, a picture taken in Grandma Lynam's back yard in 1957 of Uncle Bus, Grandma and Uncle Ralph. 

This one I remember. Uncle Ralph and his daughter Shirley were visiting from the west coast. First time I met them, at least that I remember.

I am so grateful to have these photos - especially the ones from 1894 of Grandma and Uncle Bus. 💟

The Teapot I Purchased Twice

I once had a large collection of teapots but when we decided to downsize, retire, and move I sold almost all of them at the time of our farm sale - including this one. I changed my mind after the auctioning of the teapots began. My grandson, Zachary, was nearby and had an auction number, so I asked him to bid on the teapots. As I recall the price of 'first bid' was $3.50 which he got. I pointed out the teapot I wanted and he bought it for me - the second time I had purchased it at an auction.

The first time I had the winning bid for this 'Gibson Staffordshire England Teapot' was at the household auction for Grace Dory in the early 90's. As I recall I paid between $11 and $12 for it the first time. Grace was a woman I had known and liked for a number of years. I wanted something of her's as a memento of our friendship and the teapot was perfect.

It was one of those 'it's a small world' coincidences that led to my friendship with Grace. It happened via my employment at Lariam House recording studio in the mid '70's. One of our voice-over talents was Billy Cole - a radio personality at WHO in Des Moines. Bill had one of the most melodic voices I'd ever heard. He hosted 'The Country Call-In' show in addition to being a singer and songwriter. During one of our conversations he asked me where I was from and I told him Corning. That was when he told me one of his regular callers was from Corning and that they had become friends. When I moved back to my hometown and had occasion to talk with Grace I told her about working with Billy at the studio. When Bill and his wife came to town to visit Grace, she told me about it.

Some of the clients Billy voiced commercials for were, John Deere, Pioneer Seed and Massey-Ferguson. 

Bill Kelsey was director of public relations for M-F at that time which led to another of those 'small world' coincidences in the 80's when my daughter and his son were good friends at Valley High School.

Billy was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 2002. He ended his shows with "The best way to have friends is to be one." 

Billy and Bill were two of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

Back to the first time I bought that Gibson tea pot at Grace's sale - one of my high school friends and classmate, Linda Miller, was also there. I hadn't seen her for several years. She was in town visiting her parents. We were talking, looking through items for sale when she picked up something I did not recognize and then bid on and bought. 

I don't remember exactly what she called it - a sap, I think, though it might have been cosh or blackjack. When I asked what it was for she told me it was a weapon, a small, weighted, hand held weapon that could be used defensively. I don't know why she wanted it, nor why Grace would have owned one, but I was impressed on both counts.

 A teapot and a cosh - two very disparate items to link in a blog post. Ah, memories. 

Now Is The Season

 

Wolf Moon By Mary Oliver

Now is the season

of hungry mice,

cold rabbits, 

lean owls

hunkering with their lamp-eyes

in the leafless lanes

in the needled dark;

now is the season 

when the kittle fox

comes to town

in the blue valley

of early morning;

now is the season

of iron rivers,

bloody crossings,

flaring winds,

birds frozen

in their tents of weeds,

their music spent

and blown like smoke

to the stone of the sky;

now is the season 

of the hunter Death;

with his belt of knives, 

his black snowshoes,

he means to cleanse

the earth of fat;

his gray shadows

are out and running -- under

the moon, the pines, 

down snow-filled trails they carry 

the red whips of their music,

their footfalls quick as hammers,

from cabin to cabin,

from bed to bed,

from dreamer to dreamer.

The photo is one I took yesterday morning not of a wolf, but a coyote as it loped through the back yard very near our deck. It obviously is not going hungry - looking very healthy and well fed. I saw it at a distance a few days ago hunting in the field on the other side of the pond. I hope everyone is keeping a close watch on their pets. I doubt this creature is surviving, thriving on mice and rabbits only.

November '23 Book List

Slightly better than last month - six books read in November.

normal rules don't apply by Kate Atkinson is a collection of short stories nominally tied together. I've been a big fan of this author since I first discovered her, but this book did not live up to my expectations - not her usual offerings.

heat wave is by Nancy Thayer - a new author for me. It is a typical wife loses husband, must start over raising her two daughters alone and learning to love again. Saving grace - it is set on Nantucket.

Things You Save in a Fire is by Katherine Center - also a new author for me and also about a woman learning to trust and love a man. This book was a little more interesting than the previous one. It is about the only female firefighter in a station of men who don't want her there even though she is determined to stay.

New And Selected Poems by Mary Oliver was an 80th birthday gift from my brother Les and his wife Susan. Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets but I did not have any of her books of poetry. This is a very much appreciated gift.

Which, surprisingly, led to one of the most meaningful moments of my birthday celebration. I was telling everyone what a great poet this author was, how much I loved her work and that they should read some of her poems. I said, "Let me give you an example" and started looking for a shorter poem to read aloud. Everyone listened attentively - especially two of my great-grandsons sitting in front of me. The poem was Wild Geese which begins "You do not have to be good". I think that's what got Maverick and Sawyer's attention. 😉 My brother Les is the one in the checked shirt.

Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly is the 7th novel in his Lincoln Lawyer series. This one also includes his half-brother, Harry Bosch, the main character in Connelly's other series. I love this author and his characters. I had the feeling, from comments in the author's notes, that this might be his last book. But an internet search doesn't say that for certain. I hope there are more!

The Other Woman by Daniel Silva is #18 in the Gabriel Allon series. I know I have at least three more to read in the series. These books are well written and have given me much more of an understanding about the Arab-Israeli conflicts including the one going on now.

Cold weather, shorter days, longer nights are here - perfect for reading. It was nice out today so I went to the library and stocked up - five big fat books to start the last month of 2023.

Do I Really Remember Him?

I woke up thinking about my paternal grandfather, George. He was born 132 years ago today and died September 14, 1947 about two and a half months before his 56th birthday and a little more than two months before I turned four years old.

I say I have memories of being two and having my little sister take my place in Mom's arms and on her lap. Do I have real memories of my grandpa? Or only 'memories' from the photos of me pictured with him? I tried to think of any distinct memories but only came up with a shadowy figure. (I was two in the photo above. Wanting to hold my baby sister? Or take her place in Grandma Bessie's arms?)

Grandpa George was a handsome, distinguished looking man in this photo of him, my grandma Bessie and my dad Louis.

And looking a little older and not as robust in this one, possibly taken not long before he died. Dad and Aunt Leona in back Grandma and Grandpa in front. Aunt Leona would have been 20 in 1945 which is about the age I think she looks in this photo.

If my brother older brother Ron can clearly remember going to Great-grandpa George Means funeral when he (Ronald) was only two years, seven months old, surely I can remember Grandpa George Lynam when I was almost four years old. Do I? I'm still pondering - looking for those specific memories. 

Married To Amazement

 Another poem by Mary Oliver, because she gets it.

When Death Comes

When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps the purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox; when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility, and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name a comfortable music in the mouth, tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth. When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Seven years ago a friend of my daughter (and a FB friend of mine), a talented and prolific writer, shared the following post about death which I saved because it resonates with me.

"She rose, weightless and filled with light, her mind a beacon calling to wonders beyond that which she had known, her heart a pulse matching the rhythm of universe and others who were traveling. Vast constellations of light (like stars) shifted and changed as she moved along her own continuum. She was not who she had been and yet had never been more herself; there was no fear - only a kind of awe that it should be like this. 

In the distance, something said her name; it was a feeling more than a noise, and her excitement carried her quickly along to what felt certain to be her Next Place. Another adventure. A new beginning. She looked behind only once, to send them her love, and whispered that, in the end, time is something you wake from when you are tired of sleeping." 💖

Love of Bare November Days

 

My November Guest

My Sorrow, when she's here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grey
Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise

    By Robert Frost

The Gettysburg Address and Pickett's Charge

One hundred sixty years ago today, November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldier's National Cemetery.  

Only four and a half months earlier, at the Gettysburg Battle, my Great-great-great grandfather fought and was wounded during Pickett's Charge (fought across the area in the picture above). 

Naturally I learned about The Gettysburg Address in grade school but I understood more about it and the Battle of Gettysburg during my later years. Still, it didn't really resonate with me until I learned my 3xgreat-grandfather had taken part in that particular conflict during the Civil War. 

Now our country is so divided it makes me wonder if we are headed for another civil war. I certainly hope not. I hope somehow, someway, someone (or more than one) will be able to heal the rift between the conservatives and the liberals and unite the majority of Americans once again in a common cause.

Abraham Lincoln seemed to me like an intelligent, caring, wise leader. I wonder if he would have any good advice for today's politicians. 

Some Pics and Thoughts About My Big 80th

 

When I first learned that my daughter-in-law was planning a big celebration for my 80th birthday, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. In the past I celebrated milestone birthdays by going on a solitary retreat - being in nature, journeling, reflecting on my life.

But having a  big party with family turned out to be more than I could have imagined. What a day!

Thank you Shalea for all the planning and preparations. You did such a marvelous job. 💖

The photos aren't in any particular order, but I have to start with this one because it was the biggest surprise of the day. I could not help but tear up when my nephew Ian and his family arrived. I hadn't seen Ian and Heidi since their eldest, Maya, was a baby.

I had given up on ever meeting my brother, Les' two youngest grandchildren, Keira and Austin, in person. 

I am beyond grateful that this family came to my birthday.  

I could not have been more surprised and happy.

And very grateful both my brothers were with me and my brother-in-law Gene. (My deceased sister Betty's husband.)

Ron, Les and I were posed for pics when I said, "wait, my other brother has to be in here too!" which is when Gene slid his chair over in front of us. 

My other big surprise was that my niece Lorrie and her husband Kevin flew up from Phoenix to be with me.

This photo is of me and my nephews Andrew and Ian and nieces Lorrie and Kristi. 

Other family I had not seen for awhile was granddaughter Alyssa and great-grandchildren Lily and Maverick.

Can you tell I was especially happy to see great-granddaughter Lily? She is my first great-granddaughter and very special to me.

Two of my children were present, Preston on the left and Douglas on the right.

The other two, daughter Kari and bonus son Mark, had visited us in late summer and early fall.

Chess players! So happy to see these two great-grandsons carry on a family tradition (of sorts). 

These are two of Doug's grandsons, Rodney left and Jack, right.

Grandpa Bud and Grandma Ramona with the six of their nine grandchildren who were there.

Ki, Bud and Zach in back.

Dominique, Deise, me, Katrina and Alyssa in front.

One of those granddaughters said, "we all have to cross our legs". Don't ask me. Some kind of  'thing' I guess. 😕

Brother Ron and me with two of his three children, the twins, Andrew and Lorrie. 

I last saw the twins at Ron's 81st birthday. (Belated 80th due to Covid.)

Granddaughter Deise and I share our birthdays. She is my 'Irish' granddaughter because I had been to Ireland shortly before she was born and her parents gave her an Irish name.

She was born on my 51st - 29 years ago.

I always tease her about spoiling our anniversary plans for that weekend by not arriving in a 'timely' manner as her two older siblings had. It was so late by the time she made her entrance we decided not to leave town. 

Always happy to see my little brother Les and my sister-in-law Susan.

In the background are brother-in-law Gene and niece Kristi.

There were so many photos of family groupings I'm afraid I will leave someone out.

Son Preston, daughter-in-law Shalea with three of their five children and two of their three grandsons.

Zachary, Deise, Ki and Dominique in back. Preston, me, Shalea and Ian, middle.

Greyson and Ayden in front. Zach is Deise's partner and Ian is Dominique's husband.

Grouping with son Douglas and daughter-in-law Shelly's clan.

Zach, Alyssa, Katrina and grandson Rodney back row.

Grandson Sawyer, Doug, granddaughter Brynley on my lap, Shelly and granddaughter Lily, middle.

Grandsons Maverick and Jack in front.

Boy those kids are growing!

Nephews Ian and Andrew bookending brother Les.

Ian, in my opinion, is the one who most resembles my Dad.

It was great to see both these nephews again.

Shalea's Dad, Pete, and grandson-in-law, Ian. 

Pete and I have been co-grandparents for more than 30 years. Long enough that we have become good friends. He surprised me with a b'day card and a fifty dollar bill. I said, "Hey, you forgot the other $30."  He also told me I had a few years to go before I caught up with him.

With my nephew and family -

LtoR - Heidi, Austin, me, Ian with Keira on lap and Maya.

I'm still basking in the glow of their presence yesterday. 

Bud got a picture of most of the great-grands playing outside.

LtoR: Ayden, Brynley being held by Lily, Maverick, Jack in front of Rodney and Greyson.

Missing is Sawyer. He told me, "I don't like being in social situations." 

Me in the midst of all those wonderful great-grands and nieces and nephews.

Lto R - Milacha's daughter, and I'm so sorry I can't remember her name. (Milacha is Andrew's partner.) Jack, Keira, Greyson, Maya, Ayden, Austin, Me, Rodney, Lily, Brynley, Sawyer and Maverick.

It is always a treat to be around the young ones.

Not sure who came up with the idea for the rock shirts, but I love it! And I love that they got me a shirt, too.

Deise, Dominique, Shalea, Rodney, me, Katrina and Alyssa. In front, Maverick, Brynley and Lily.

One of the best presents was a book of Mary Oliver's poems from Les and Susan. I was telling everyone what a great poet she was and how much I loved her poems and then read one of them, 'Wild Geese'.  It begins, "You do not have to be good," and ends with "announcing your place in the family of things." It felt perfect and meaningful to read it.

It was such a wonderful celebration of my 80 years. Thank you to all who made it so special. 💛