“When the world is storm-driven and the bad that happens and the worse that threatens are so urgent as to shut out everything else from view, then we need to know all the strong fortresses of the spirit which men have built through the ages.”—Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way
We are about to enter a period—dare
Our plan was to ship our VW van-stuffed as though it were an indecently large suitcase-to France, drive around for six weeks, find a town to our liking, and settle down for two years so our three girls, aged three, five, and seven, could learn French while I finished a book. Not exactly A Year in Provence, but maybe a year or two in Montpellier, Pont-Aven, or Grenoble. Of course, it didn't work out quite like that. Well, to be honest, it didn't work out like that at all.
The five of us, my wife and three teenage daughters, got back from three days in that strangest of cities, Los Angeles, where we were extras in a horror movie called Prime Evil, a tale about a huge crocodile, the result of the usual experiment-gone-terribly wrong. The purpose of the trip was so Ahna, my oldest daughter could make progress towards getting her Screen Actors Guild card but the rest of us ending up getting invited to be extras too. So we sat on the beach for two days by a lake in Santa Clarita for hours in the broiling sun, getting up well before dawn to get to the set on time.
Added on May 22, 2003
When I was a boy, I remember my father sitting, lost in thought and memory, in view of a painting in our American living room. That painting was of Torc Mountain rising above the Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland, which was for my father, home. He always seemed unreachable in this state, but whether or not he was, it was clear to me that he was filled with a longing that I at least in part understood. I loved him then as he loved Ireland—hopelessly, with every fiber of my body.
Added on April 22, 2003
“If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle…”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
It is natural at this time to focus on “The Sum of All Fears” as the recent movie trumpets. But fear implies loss—of life, health, fortune, love, liberty—and in troubled times it is truly more important to remember and ponder blessings, and chief among these is freedom.
Added on September 10, 2002