It’s September first. Sure, we have some warm days left, maybe even some hot ones, but the air is forever changed, for this season, anyway. So we adapt. We change with the dwindling days and if a sweater is what’s needed to preserve some warmth, we don one. This summer has been a season of sand and smiles, but Irene wiped the summer footprints like an etch-a-sketch, and her cruel winds and seemingly endless rains did some damage. The beach will never be the same and neither will we. So we change. We adapt.

Were’s my sweater?

Over the weekend, someone who read my post, “…for as long as we both shall live” sent me this message:

“so i just read your wedding blog…really beautiful. I got the feeling you are leaning toward climbing the hill…?”

My response was couched with descriptions of family obligations as current priorities. Then I wrote, “Maybe someday…” What was lost in translation was the sound that went through my head when I wrote it and that has been with me since. The tone of the words came from a live version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City,” when he ad-libbed the words after these lines:

“And everything dies baby that’s a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.
(Yeah, maybe someday.)”

The Boss says the three words in a dismissive way, as if he doesn’t believe the hopeful lines before them. It’s understandable though, right? I mean, what dies and comes back? That “Live in New York City” record came out in 2001 and for most of the decade, its angst soothed me. As the decade drew near a close, it and other music feeding that particular emotional well became less relevant. I had grown to accept my life as it was, and let die a dream I thought it would be. The serendipity of a meal and a glass of Pinot with my son in California in 2009 punctuated the transformation. I was at peace with the road.

Since then I was stunned to learn that anything is possible and my solitary peace has evolved into sharing this life, supporting one another, and enjoying the journey together. And Love. That’s where I am and that’s where we are.

Maybe someday…

I went to a wedding Sunday. Actually, I was the best man, which was an honor given the respect I have for the groom, Alan Goldman. The event was described as “casual” to assist attendees with wardrobe, but the ceremony was anything but.

I hadn’t been to a wedding in years, but I do recall considering the ceremony as an obligation and the reception as the real reason for going, especially if there was a full mass. I’m sure a certain segment of the male population would agree, but Sunday I was suddenly not with them.

The event was intimate, with all 60 or so guests within 30 feet of the joining couple. My position was about five feet away, facing Judy, the beautiful bride with the sparkling eyes. I didn’t get much direction except from a wedding planner who said, “I’ll come get you when it’s time for you to get Pat,” (Judy’s sister) and, “Don’t drop these.” I was supposed to walk the Maid of Honor down the short aisle, “about halfway through” a song I had never heard. I started walking about four notes in… Twenty seconds later, Pat, Alan and I stood looking out for the bride while the music played… and played. It was probably only 4 or so minutes, but long enough for all of us to imagine a woman in a white-cr?me dress lowering herself out a window, but then Judy appeared and the Groom exhaled.

A female JP was at the helm for her 602nd wedding since she started in 2004. “They’re all different,” she told me afterwards. This one sure was.

From my vantage point I could see every face in the crowd and every one was paying attention. Dave, a long-time co-worker of Alan, was in the back with his Misty, and he was beaming. Alan’s 3 sons and daughter-in-law were right in front of me. The young men were understandably pensive. As someone who’s experienced it, seeing your Dad get married is a bit surreal.

Alan and Judy’s “I Do’s” were strong, but as the carefully chosen and beautiful vows began to flow, Alan ascended an emotional Heartbreak Hill, where strides get heavy, courage is tested, and many runners are broken…

The only certainty was that Alan was taking the hill. It may not have been as graceful as he would have liked, but as I heard the words. No, as I felt the words, I understood just a little of what he was feeling and had no doubt that if it’s ever me up there, I will stumble “up that hill with everything I’ve got…” and it will be wet with tears.

When most of us men get married in our 20’s or 30’s, the whole thing is a bit routine. It’s what you do. It’s what everyone does. You have your whole life ahead and marriage is a checkbox of sorts. School. Job. Marriage. House. Kids. Etc. But now, when you likely have less of your life ahead than behind, and you’ve with the woman, the whole love thing is on a completely different level. For one thing, the choice is made from a position of much more (well, some more) maturity. Not only do you savor every day with her, but every moment, because you’re not taking any of them for granted…

Just like on Heartbreak Hill when the cheers and encouragement of fans push runners up the hill, Alan had family and friends pushing him and Judy’s loving hands pulling him. He finished strong.

Congratulations!

I’m not at all happy with the performance of the President I helped elect in 2008, but in spite of the advantages of a stagnant economy and 14 million unemployed, the current crop of frothing Republicans has no shot of beating him. Still, someone has to be the Republican lamb, so let’s go to the lowlights:

• Rick Perry (3 to 1) – Governor of Texas, just like the last Republican president, and I think we know how that turned out. Actually, the destruction of that administration is still raging, but I digress. I’m hoping Perry wins the nomination just so Democrats in every race can run against the ghost of “Dubya.” Sadly, the brains in the party like Karl Rove probably know better than to nominate a Bush clone.
• Fred Karger (Off the board) – Hey Fred, there are no gay Republicans except you… You should go see Michele Bachman’s counselor-husband to “pray away the gay” so maybe FauxNews will let you in the next debate. Oh, and Mr. Bachmann takes Medicaid.
• Ron Paul (100 to 1) – Rep. Paul is my favorite politician because he isn’t one. He’s one of the most honest men in either party and therefore cannot be nominated.
• Michele Bachmann (10 to 1) – I kinda like her. She’s a strong woman who speaks her mind. I dig chicks like that. Unfortunately I disagree with pretty much all she stands for.
• Herman Cain – (1,000,000 to 1) “Hey, we have a black candidate too!” Rich dude on a very cool ego trip.
• Jon Huntsman (20 to 1) – I loved his book, “Winners Never Cheat.” It’s about not compromising your principles, even though that’s what he seems to be doing now that he’s running for president. Oh, you worked for Obama? Mormon dude, save your money. You’re going nowhere.
• Tim Pawlenty (2 to 1) – Probably the most level headed and reasonab… Uh, nevermind.
• Rick Santorum (8 to 1) – Parrots the social conservative talking points, but comes across as a lightweight who’s a little unstable. Fortunately, that doesn’t disqualify him here. He just might be smarmy enough to win the nomination.
• Newt Gingrich (His old Tiffany’s debt to 1) – Newt, Newt, Newt… Three wives doesn’t mean you have three times the family values of your opponents. You might have been able to overcome that with your ability to articulate, but dissing the Paul Ryan budget was the end of you. Still, have fun appealing to no one. When you finally face reality and quit, record a country song like Johnny Cash to exorcise your demons: “A boy named Newt.”
• Mitt Romney – (5-1) “Corporations are people,” eh Mitt? I totally get where you’re coming from because you have the charisma of Cyborg, Inc. The only “people” attracted to you are named “Roomba.”

Seriously, I can’t see any of these candidates competing with President Obama. The American electorate wants to vote for someone they can relate to. Remember how people polled said George W. Bush seemed like a guy they could have a beer with? The Republicans have that guy in their ranks and it concerns me that he could pretty easily be convinced to run. That guy is Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.

A twenty meter wide seamless tube eight shades darker than black bore an endless hole into the horizon where hundred foot pines once stood. Actually, the bases, tops and sides of some still stood. It was as if their middles had been removed by a precision cosmic corkscrew. I stared into it like a deer frantic for an attacking tiger in the sightless night, but fearless, while in unmeasurable time its whole flashed nanosecond arcs of welder light reflecting across polished steel trapezoids rotating around, through and into themselves in perfect synchronicity. Without my physical participation, fusion fed magnetism of perfect design pulled me in a kaleidoscopic, vomit inducing tumble toward the swirling, curved and rounded fins of shimmering and perforated non-local metal.

Fear hung outer tube with time and without tickets. As I ascended wildly, atoms smashed and synapses were consumed in the chrome fire. Neurons tore by the billions. More were born. Flashbacks and forwards of life mysteries diffused through me like poisonless radiation. Whole lives played like sixty second movie trailers condensed to nanoseconds. The learning was Vulcan mind melding, but still short of unreachable certainty. A thick layer of insecure cells incinerated nearly completely. The survivors would die only from mental focus. Worried observers outside the zone blanketed me with protective aura against the cold vacuum of warped space and time. They called to me inside the tube and struggled to contain the damage outside of it. Their hearts pulled me. Their arms shook me. Their love saves me.

I woke up and remembered it all.

Harry Potter: “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”

Professor Albus Dumbledore: “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

In the kitchen as I mixed the medical potion that keeps Kyle healthy, we were still buzzing from the midnight show of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.” Kyle wore a radiant smile as he downed the elixirs. “They should do another movie where that one left off,” he hopefully suggested. “Nah,” I said. “That was a great run, but now it’s over. We’ll enjoy this and then find some new magic.” “Will that be about wizards?” the boy asked. “I don’t know, my boy. It will be different. There’s a lot of magic in this world.” I went on to give him some examples like the magic he brings into the lives of everyone he meets.” Kyle smiled in an almost embarrassed way. I do think he knows he flies quite a bit of magic through this life. “How about the love we all feel for Maddy? That’s magic, right?” Kyle was still smiling as he nodded. I thought about the other magic in my life, but I didn’t want to go all mushy on the poor kid. We hugged. I told him I loved him and to sleep in. No summer program tomorrow.

What’s the magic in your world?

The 7 mile Falmouth Road Race is six weeks from tomorrow, and today it took hard strides of mental toughness to get through 2. It’s a sloping mile out to Sandwich Road and some of the hills were daunting. Last night I advised a loved one to not look at their 35 year mountain of addiction, but instead at each step they’ll take to learn about it and eventually pass it by on their journey of sobriety.

Their journey… “It’s not the destination, but the journey,” is a cliche, but like any other, it is due to it’s simple truth. Only 500 yards into this mornings journey, jabbing bone pain visited my left hip. Attempting to walk off the ache, I dragged myself across 50 yards of doubt. Were my days of running over? Was the Falmouth RR a silly, unachievable pipe dream? Second gear reengaged and the run continued pain free. There were many points along the route that I wanted to quit, but as I looked down at the detailed unevenness and the cracked asphalt instead of the long, upward climbs, I replayed the advice given and heeded it myself.

Jay Farrar ran with me this morning. There are a few artists that always speak to me, and he’s up there on the list. He spoke this morning and I’ll speak it to my loved one later.

“After all this confusion is put aside
Finally gonna make it right.”

One day at a time.

[I started writing this on June 14th…
Hello. It’s been awhile. I just found out one of my Italian brothers is very sick. Peter’s got pancreatic cancer. Not good. It’s shocking. Oh, irony is here too, as I just realized it’s been exactly one year since my nephew’s suicide.]

[OK, I’m back. It’s Saturday, June 18th and the Bruins parade is today. Their playoff run left me breathless, like those skating sprints at Hockeytown in Melrose before my single-mom figured out she couldn’t afford to keep me in hockey.]

[Sometime later, including today…]
The Bruins parade was great, but Kyle had more fun once we hooked up with the Gonnella boys (and girls) and hit up the North End. As we crossed the “Greenway” toward the home of Mike’s Pastry, I said to Peter, “You do realize this North End place is full of Italians, right?” He laughed. Cancer or not, some things just won’t change with us. My fun Saturday came to an end with an 11:26 Facebook post:

“Clarence got his wings. RIP Big Man.”

When I read the news, I was thrust back to Shea Stadium in October, 2003. Megan saw Clarence crying at the end of the E Street Band’s final gig of “The Rising” tour. “Maybe he doesn’t think they’ll ever play again,” my girl surmised. She’s smart. If they did an autopsy on the Big Man, I’m sure they found a huge heart. The thought of not pursuing what he loved and delivering joy would make a grown man cry. On a night when he may have been contemplating just that, Clarence was raining crocodile tears.

Sunday began for me at 8:18am with a beautiful note from Joyce titled, “Father’s Day.” She described some of the little things I do for those around me. Her thoughtful examples made it so real and made me feel great,“ …karaoke parties and midnight movies for Kyle, early morning moothies & eggies for Maddy…”

I headed out to the escape of yard work, protected in the cocoon of my earbuds. I had Peter and Ryan and Clarence and life and death swirling around me like Dorothy Gale’s tormentors. Suddenly Brad Marchand and Tim Thomas floated past my broken window… WTF? The iPod wheel quickly delivered “Born to Run” as a soundtrack to sort out thoughts sticking to cobwebs in the darkness of my mind.

Bruce’s fire and the soul of Clarence coursed through me… The words about loving and hating and losing and desperation and being “on that hill with everything I’ve got” played in the background while I googled my mind for answers.

I thought about how strong Peter was on Saturday with wife Kerry and three of his four children. No one could have known he had just found out the worst possible news. I’m sure he’s not pulling this off 24/7, but I was very proud of how he carried himself that day. He was focused on those he loved. I recalled how Ryan always made his cousin Kyle feel “cool.”

[Sorry, I just had to go outside to tell someone I love them…]

That’s the point of this mess of a post, I think. Life isn’t neat. It’s not always the way we want it. I had intended to weave the sacrifice, grit and passion shown by the Bruins with Bruce lyrics about putting oneself out there “with everything I got,” and how if we don’t live with that commitment and fire our lives will always be something short. I failed at that, but no matter how you do it, whether with “moothies” or words or “karaoke parties” or by throwing a couple bucks into the saxophone case of a subway musician, just make this a better place for those around you.

While I await game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Final, I need to address a few items:

• The Bruins are now messing with my Memorial Day Weekend Mojo. Joyce and I had planned to skip the Friday afternoon traffic and be sipping a cocktail by 9:30 or 10:00 at Liam Maguire’s… Now there’s this game 7 thing at 8:00… As I reminded her, there is no game 8.
• I’m growing increasingly apathetic with politics in this country. The rhetoric is out of control on both sides. It seems the only time real issues are discussed, it’s in a back room deal where the leadership in both parties figure out how to funnel more money to corporations and the rich. Other than that, we’re treated to focus-group taglines like “Obamacare” and “Paul Ryan’s Medicare killing budget.” With all the playoff action lately, I’ve avoided the political sideshow and feel much better.
• There’s one more France post in me, and the longer I wait, the more I’ll have to invent.
• I just finished potential Republican presidential contender Jon Huntsman’s book, “Winners Never Cheat.” These days, I think nearly everyone could use a read on personal ethics, but the man’s credibility is slipping as he now flip-flops on his health care record while Governor of Utah. Jon, read your book.
• I’m having a graduation party for Kyle soon and the list of attendees is getting interesting. If you didn’t get your invitation, let me know. Oh, and you will sing karaoke. “Be like Kyle.”
• OK, back to the Bruins. I’m obsessed and clock watched all day yesterday waiting for game 6. Of course local talk radio has all the answers and if they had their way, winger Milan Lucic would have sat last night instead of drilling a goal and playing an overall strong game. No player has made me crazy more than defenseman Thomas Kaberle. He has killed his team on a few occasions. Still, I have this crazy idea that he will score a huge goal for his team before this Cup march is over. We’ll see beginning Friday precisely at 8:00PM.

The 6:45 to Paris was packed, but Joyce was still pretty excited because on the trans-Atlantic flight, she was going to get a meal and well, “I love plane food.” Just another little fun fact I learned from the 24x7x7 and change of togetherness… The anticipation built as 6:45 approached and the last of over-stuffed over-head bags were crammed into compartments by unusually pleasant flight attendants. Hey, they were headed to Paris too. As we felt the little tug of the 757 backing away from the gate, I noticed there was only one empty seat on the plane. It was 23A, the window seat right next to Joyce. That good fortune foreshadowed the whole trip, but I didn’t realize it because it was, well, foreshadowing… Shortly after dinner, she curled up horizontally and when consciousness reengaged, we were in Paris. It was a cool flight.

We did the Paris shuffle following signs for “RER,” the commuter rail serving the city and suburbs. For about 12 Euro each (near $20), we railed it from Charles De Gaulle airport to “Le Halle,” rolled luggage through a long tunnel and grabbed the #4 Metro to “Saint Sulpice,” emerging to our neighborhood set for the opening scenes of vacation.

Strolling along oceanside cobblestones was tranquil, and we walked les rues, avenues et boulevards of Paris as much as possible. We walked everywhere and didn’t care that 6 of 10 Metro passes went unused. There’s much less to see in the subway, but even the back in time tunnel had its (albeit blurry…) moments.

On Monday we set sail for the Seine and picked Rue de Seine to get us there, although it was hardly a direct route given all the shops and sidewalk vendors along the way… We navigated the maze and reached a decision intersection. The browning limestone of a church was visible above buildings a couple blocks away. It felt like the right way. We passed two shops that we had in our neighborhood and I commented about their similar customer demographics… As we got closer, the church got larger… and more familiar. “Hey, that looks just like…” By this time Joyce was laughing and then our circular route dawned on me. Welcome to Eglise Saint-Sulpice!

We eventually made it to the watery vein of life splitting the city and walked it toward Notre Dame. After visiting the great cathedral we headed back down the banks, browsing open-air used booksellers along the way. While Joyce negotiated the purchase of a couple French novels for her brother, I sat on a park bench and looked around. There she was. I wish I had a better picture, but this is what I first saw…

Our Citroen diesel was a cool (actually it was pretty dorky) fuel sipper with “Picasso” adorning its side. It only took 10 kilometers or so to see how the French sustain their culinary customs of fresh meats, cheeses and vegetables. The rolling countryside is full of cows and green fields, except for that little house in Giverny with its colorful back yard and pond. An artist could find some cool subject matter there…

“Map Girl” was a beautiful navigator and even played stewardess serving fresh fruits and fine chocolate. Our four hour plus trip from Saint Malo back to Paris seemed shorter until that last toll booth. A car full of young hoods (no, really, they were wearing hoods) paid the toll-taker, but the gate did not rise to allow their passage. We waited next in line for the five minutes it took for the public servant to finally leave the booth and manually lift the gate. In the interim, the menacing driver got out twice to approach the booth and say some stuff in French. I think Joyce and I had visions of Sonny Corleone’s demise at a toll booth, but this time with French subtitles. Once through that mess, we drove about one kilometer to discover THE FOUR LANE ROAD TO PARIS WAS CLOSED! Map girl was going to earn her dinner now, and she even found time to create some impressionism of her own…

As she navigated us through “La Defense,” we marveled at the amount of real estate devoted to the French military establishment. I’ve since learned it’s just a business district named after a statue dedicated to soldiers who defended the city during the Franco-Prussian war. Suddenly I was launched into the multiple lane, without actual lanes, car carousel circling the Arc de Triomphe. My mission, and I had no choice but to accept it, was to find which of the 12 spoked avenues was l’avenue Kléber. As we whirled the giant roundabout, I got aggressive (hell, the Parisian drivers are crazy, but nearly void of Bostonians attitude behind the wheel) and when Map Girl exclaimed (It was a controlled “exclaim.” Let’s not get carried away.), “It’s right there,” I veered across 3 lanes of the potential derby de demolition and safely toward the luxurious Hotel Baltimore.

The next day was our last in Paris, so we strolled the broad Avenue des Champs-Elysees, mostly window shopping except for the Swoosh store and a French Futbol shop for boy gifts. The next morning while Joyce explored Avenue Victor-Hugo for last minute gifts, I arranged for a bellhop and taxi. A taxi was estimated at 40 to 50 Euro compared to the 24 for the train-Metro in, but as it turned out, totally worth it. Going home was bittersweet, and I didn’t want it to include dragging bags through the subway. We walked out onto the sunny sidewalk. The smiling bellman was holding open the door to a shiny new Mercedes sedan taxi. Perfect.

By now you know the plane drill, and the Westward leg had a few unsold seats, including 23A again. Shortly after takeoff Joyce assumed the position and said softly, “Don’t let me sleep through the meal.” I may have dozed a little, but not much. When Joyce hit the recline button for the third time, she looked up at me with a little smile. I said, “I know. You’re just going to rest your eyes.”