Life’s Ups and Downs

March 27th, 2024      David R. Davis

Life is a fickle thing to navigate. As Mr. Sinatra once sang, “You’re riding high in April, shot down in May. My plane was shot down in late March. Someone hacked an email address I’ve used for more than fifteen years. In one day, many of my contacts were getting a message from me asking them to buy gift cards for a sick friend of mine. When I found out, I spent the next five hours trying to alert all those I thought might get the email, and started using a new email provider, while attempting to close the old Comcast email address. Emphasis on attempting. It took an hour to  talk to a live human that works for Xfinity. So what else is new? I was politely told I could not delete the email address. I got some help she thought would solve the problem. Time will tell.

Still, I had two events that made my week a good one. While taking a walk on the Anza Trail near the Desert Meadows Park, I came upon the Wind Phone. It was built based on a factual story that occurred in Japan. A man lost family members in a typhoon and built a phone booth with a phone not connected to anything. It provides a means for people to communicate with those who have passed away. Thousands of people visit this phone booth every year. Laura Imai Messina chronicles the story in the wonderful book The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World. The Wind Phone on the Anza trail is a white circular concrete structure with a bench, an old rotary dial phone, and inset blue, red, and orange glass bricks. The telephone line goes out into the air. Suzanne and I met a woman on the trail that day who told us she has used the wind phone many times. Seeing it made me tear up, reminding me of the book I’d read and the people I wish I could talk to again.

I also found by happenstance another very well-written novel. The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt. At first, I was unsure why I liked it. The novel is straightforward, with a focus on its characters, and is written in a way that effortlessly flows and feels natural. It is rare for me to enjoy a book that moves back and forth through time to fill in the backstory. DeWitt does this in such a smooth style that it seems effortless. deWitt flawlessly writes the three main characters plus the lesser ones. It was an unexpected gift to help make the week much better.

Straight from the horse’s mouth:
“A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.
Baltasar Gracian
 I wish I had written this:
The Prince and the Paper Mark Twain
“The night was come, the gang had just finished feasting, an orgy was beginning; the can of liquor was
passing mouth to mouth.”

Haiku 2u2
alive
even in the dark
can’t hide from yourself

Go well. David

Please consider my books. They can be found on Amazon athttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHC2MZCR