Linda is There for 30 Years
Letter to My Gen-Z Daughters
I have three daughters aged 19 to 26. Despite my best efforts, they succumbed to the temptations of wokery. Part of that wokeness manifests itself in an ambivalence about patriotism, which I address in this letter. I plan to touch on other topics in future letters.
I wrote the letter over the Fourth of July weekend. It is full of concepts that Ricochetti already know, but maybe you can show it to some Gen-Zers you know. Can’t hurt.
Sweet Things
Prostitution or Marriage?
A few weeks ago, I was at a lunch with a number of very wealthy men. And, as seems to happen in non-religious circles, the wealthy men brought their trophies with them. These particular trophies were lovely and intelligent – for actresses and supermodels. Which made me realize that, in the minds of these men, the young ladies were, in fact, not different from wives. The arrangements seemed to be mutually satisfying: each party was trading one thing for another.
From an economic or contractual basis, there is really no difference between prostitution and marriage. Once you strip out the time horizon – the length – of the relationship, then the arrangement seems to essentially have the same core elements, whether it lasts for a night or for decades. I am quite sure this is how those men (and probably those women) see it. It seems likely to me that they have seen no convincing counterargument.
Mother’s Day for Me, a Non-Birthing Woman
I don’t know anything about the origins of Mother’s Day, or when it was established. I’m not going to research it either. All those details will make me lose the thread. I just want to say some things.
I don’t think I’m much of a mother in the June Cleaver tradition of the role. Out of necessity and then noticing an emerging aptitude, I went the route of career. But then, after I’d been left heartbroken by a guy named Mike, I did a stupid thing and got married. It was brief. It was to a man fifteen years my senior who had a few kids, the oldest closer in age to me than I was to my husband. Just before the wedding, the second child set several small fires in one of the local parks, stood there and watched the engines arrive and the fire fighters battle the flames into submission, and then (or so it was described) eagerly put his hands out for the cuffs. I’ll never forget sitting in the juvenile detention center the day of, taking the presumptive role of mother bear, giving him a stern look and asking, “Did you do it?”
Sudden Death and the Evaluation of Risk
My wife’s father died suddenly a few weeks ago. He was 83, in robust good health. His mind was as sharp as ever. Physically, he was in better shape than when I first met him, then in his mid-40s.
When he retired ~25 years ago, he made a conscious effort to take off extra weight that had accumulated over the years, and had been diligent about keeping it off. He was extremely active in his parish church, had walked at least two miles/day, and when not visiting grandchildren in far-off places, had worked in the extensive gardens at his house for hours every day.
