Good News Bad News

The bad news is that my cousin Donnie has died. He was a little older than Debbie and me and the "boy cousin" we saw the most. He grew up to be a real Carolina fan and sports nut. In many ways, neither of us ever had much in common with him, but for Mom and Dad he was a link back to Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Evelyn and precious for that alone. When he moved to Raleigh to teach, he joined Mom and Dad's church, which I always took as a nod to his esteem for them.

He has been very sick for a long time but has repeatedly rallied like the energizer bunny. But lately, he had outlived the possibility of regaining any measure of quality in his life, so I'm OK to let him go on to The Next Place.

Another cousin says so many people they know have died since Debbie, in April, that her children have asked if this is the season for it. I can see where they would ask. I was watching Ted Kennedy's funeral mass on TV today and found myself missing Walter Cronkite.

The good news is that my nephew, Jeffrey, graduated from his master's program at University of Chicago yesterday. I'm not sure exactly what he's going to do next, but I'm sure he's on his way to becoming Dr. Parker.

Work continues to be good and interesting. I love coming home across the James Island connector that swings over the downtown marina before it takes you onto Ashley River Road back into West Ashley. First I cross a vast expanse of marsh, which is bright green right now. Then the marina comes into view with huge yatchts and a mass of lesser sailboats. One day this week there was a group of what could have been Lasers clustered together in a spread-out circle; a sailing class, I imagine. One more turn of the road and you have to pay attention to traffic backing up again, but there's a nice stretch there where you get to really enjoy the view.