June 1, 2020

My parents’ wedding anniversary.

I prayed for my groundhog to move on, so I wouldn’t have the responsibility of killing him. He moved on. I write this in gratitude. Interestingly, now that he has moved on, I look down the slope and miss him, wondering what was wrong with my garden.

Rose and went to the car wash. Gave the girl a $20 tip and she turned around and vacuumed the car again.

Having received no definitive answers from the people at the university who are meant to ease one through retirement, I assumed there was nothing to it and I was just being flustered.  But, I needed to know if that was the case, so I finally got someone on the phone at TIAA, discovering that it is an extremely complicated, intricate process, involving the filling out of esoteric forms and the rebalancing of accounts, not one of which I would have been able to do on my own. Mr P led me through with sublime patience. I suppose the problem at the university is the Plague, and you can’t corner anyone in her office to get all your answers at once. This is the first time I heard numbers, and though my income will take the expected dip, I observe that I’ve never ended a month with an empty account, so I may be able to scrimp through. None of my investments figured into the calculations except for retirement, so there is a cushion. False estimation is the hallmark of my economics. Operate as though certain accounts don’t exist, so you don’t tap into them. Assume a euro is $2 so you spend them more wisely. When the balance in your account reaches $2000, decide you’re out of money for the month and spend no more.

When the beautiful summer light goes out, one is glued to the television, to see what new atrocity the Orange Tyrant will commit, to see the stretching and pulling tight of the fabric of Democracy. When the police began to kneel with the protesters, I began to hope again.

After all this, all Biden will have to do to be considered a great President is to be a sane and decent man.