7/20/2025

Sunday, July 20, 2025

D+254/182/1279

1961 "Stop The World - I Want To Get Off" premiered

1969 Apollo 11 lunar module carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface of the Moon.

1988 Michael Dukakis was selected as the Democratic nominee

In bed around 11, up at 7:45. body all achin' & a-wracked with pain. 66°, high of 72°, cloudy.

Meds, etc.  Morning meds at 10:30 a.m.  

Dinner with the Lowes at the Goldbergs last night.  As usual, the gathering was warm and wonderful.  Caren prepared a delicious dinner of salmon and mixed roasted vegetables, and an assortment of fresh fruit, preceded by much antipasti, mostly fresh veggies.  I had my first glass of wine since Andy took me to the VA Emergency Room on November 25, 2023, for what turned out to be an interstitial cystitis flare.'  The wine was the 2018 Federalist Zinfandel, aged in bourbon barrels, that we brought to the dinner.  I arrived at the gathering a bit late after dropping off Geri, as I had forgotten my hearing aids and had to return home to retrieve them.  As it turned out, I had to turn their volume down because David's voice sounded so loud to me.  We learned that Julian Lowe is living in Los Angeles, and Adam Lowe is practicing law at Michael Best.  Sam Goldberg and his wife are expecting twins, their ## 2 and #3, to add to Rachel's boy and girl for a total of 5 Goldberg grandchildren.  David's life outside Tucson is very active: golf 4 days a week and pickleball the other three.  Caren and Dan also stay active with pickleball, and Dan also with cycling.  The conversation before and during dinner was mostly sharing news and stories about our children and their children.  We were all together until about 10 p.m., a bit later than our normal 9-ish, when David and I used to run out of steam.  I'm in worse condition this year than I was last year, and was in worse condition last year than I had been the year before.  Mene, mene, tekel upharsin.  I imagine the others had the same thought after our get-together that I had, i.e., this may be the last such gathering that I will attend.  I thought last night as I readied for bed, and think again this morning, that I don't want to be around for another gathering next year.  I would perhaps be in a wheelchair, or perhaps bedridden, homebound, or worse.  It's time to be on my way.

Text to Caren, Dan, David, and Pip: 

Here’s the quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., that  I couldn’t remember at the dinner table last night,  The last part of it, about not believing in ghosts, but fearing them, explains why so many Catholics (and evangelicals) have a very hard time walking away from their ‘tattoos,’ like ‘mortal sin’ and ‘eternal damnation.’🔥  As we know, many never do walk away from them and instead become Republicans.😖 We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were early implanted in his imagination; no matter how utterly his reason may reject them, he will still feel as the famous woman did about ghosts, Je n'y crois pas, mais je les crains,—"I don't believe in them, but I am afraid of them, nevertheless".

Text to Caren:

Thank you for hosting a wonderful gathering of our clan last night.   The dinner was wonderful and the conversation and presence-sharing even more wonderful.  You and Dan could not be more gracious hosts.   It was especially nice to get together on your birthday, celebrating the day the world became a better place.❤️ 

Caren Goldberg:

Thank you, Chuck. No better way to celebrate 67 than with such good long time friends — what it’s all about. I really loved all the conversation about everyone’s memories from growing up — it was wonderful.

Charles Clausen:

I did too though those memories for me have some pain attached to them because of my dad’s PTSD after WW II and my mom’s after being raped when I was 6.  I wrote a memoir several years ago, most of it devoted to growing up in those circumstances and addressing the impact of the Church.  You’re welcome to look at it if you’d like.  One of the reasons I had such warm feelings for Bert Powell was our shared background as memoirists and self-confessors.  In any case, serious reflection on our childhood experiences is what reveals the accuracy of that “tattooed in our cradles “ quote by OWH, Sr.

Caren Goldberg:

You and your parents experienced so much pain as a result. I would love to see the memoir you wrote. We are all tattooed in our cradles and it’s a universal phenomenon.

Charles Clausen:

If you’re free for breakfast, brunch, or lunch, I could give you a copy and share a little background on it.  If you’re tied up with your travel and other commitments I could drop it off or you can pick it up here.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t feel a commitment to dive into the whole thing.  It starts with some ancestry stuff and ends with coming back to the States after Vietnam and going to law school, i.e., post “tattoo” stuff.

Caren Goldberg:

I’d love to go to breakfast, brunch or lunch! I could go to breakfast on Wednesday at 9:00 or I could go to brunch on the 29th at 11:00. Either of those work for you?

Charles Clausen:

About the only things that appear on my calendar anymore are medical appointments at the VA and birthday reminders.  Tomorrow, I have 7 appointments at the VA, mostly pre-op stuff in connection with the scheduled surgery on my privates😱, but otherwise my week is open, so how about breakfast on Wednesday.  Maxfields or some other place?

Caren Goldberg:

Maxfields on Wednesday sounds great. Does 9:00 work?

Charles Clausen:

Perfect. 

One year ago today:

I'm coming up on the 2nd anniversary of starting this daily journal and I wonder whether I should continue it after I hit that anniversary at the end of the month.  I probably will if for no other reason than what would I do to fill the time every night when I am awake and alone and needing something to fill the long hours until daybreak and Geri's rising?  But it is getting harder to write original thoughts rather than doing a "copy and paste" job from whatever I read in the newspapers or magazines, or from my memoir or an earlier journal entry.  I'm slowing down mentally as well as physically, running out of mental as well as physical energy, and getting less interested in the affairs of the world other than those that distress and depress me.  On the other hand, I have a hunch that writing every day, both the mental and intellectual part of it and the physical activity of typing and formatting, etc., may play a role in slowing cognitive decline and in helping me to recognize it as it occurs.  In any case, it's mostly the chronic pain that has me down.  I've been living with it on and off for a good 15 years, at least since 2009 when I suffered from the Hunner's ulcers in my bladder that recurred last year and required surgery this year.  Then the PMR, now the hip.  I've had two lengthy periods when I desired death every day, 'suicidal ideation' and all that.  I'm not there now, but it gets an old guy down.

Mah nishtanah.  Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.