Lee Geiger

We’re taking on water, diesel and stores
Laying up awhile before I’m back on board
They’re patching her up, to go fishing again
They’re welding her rudder, scrubbing her keel
Scars on her belly need time to heal
In the dock, with the trawlermen

“The Trawlerman’s Song” – Mark Knopfler (2005)

So, where were we?

I know, I know. It’s been months since my last post. I offer no excuses. I just haven’t had anything interesting to write about. Then again, it could just be laziness.

Actually, it is all laziness.

To start the year off, I’d like to offer some highly questionable insights and half-baked observations as we roll into the chapter of our lives titled “2022.” What else would you expect?

• Was it just me, or did 2021 whiz by faster than my dog when a potato chip hits the floor?
• I’m 62. Not 52, nor 42, and a Hail Mary from 32. I’ve climbed the peak and am now on the downside of the mountain, and if I’m lucky I’ve got about twenty laps around the Sun left in me, half of which I’ll have the energy for. It’s time to grow up.
• Peter Frampton’s latest album, “Frampton Forgets the Words,” needs to be downloaded onto your playlist. Now. Afterward, pour yourself a libation and just listen. It’s that good.
• My wife of 36 years still loves me. The kids are off the payroll. The job is still good. My friends tolerate me. I’ve got a sweet fire pit in the backyard and plenty of wine in the cellar. In short, the here and now is pretty damn good. It’s high time I stop beating myself up about what could have been.
• Last fall, my son Keith and his girlfriend Jude moved from Cedar Falls, Iowa to Bothell, Washington, a suburb near Seattle. He took a job with Bungie, maker of a popular video game called “Destiny 2.” People evolve, and Keith’s growth over the last year is nothing short of remarkable. And it’s freaking awesome having him back in the same time zone.
• I recently replaced my nine-year-old MacBook Pro with a 24-inch iMac desktop. I may never leave my home office again.
• My daughter-in-law, Dr. Caroline Kelley Geiger, is a rock star. An article she co-authored about the association between the advanced maternal age (AMA) cutoff of 35 years and prenatal care service intensity, severe maternal morbidity, and perinatal mortality has now been featured in both the New York Times and USA Today. Check it out.
• I enjoy playing golf, but I’d enjoy it more if I could play with my son Ross. I need to take advantage of the fact that he now lives across the Bay Bridge instead of across the country. Another way to spend quality time with him would be to hang out together Saturday mornings at a pub televising Napoli soccer games. That works, too.
• I’m exhausted with politics. The crotch-kicking Hate Industrial Complex has worn me down. The reality show formula of metastasizing anger and outrage is what sells these days, and I’m not a buyer. I do, however, like to window shop. Especially on Twitter, the megaphone for humanity’s cesspool. Some tweets are funnier than Betty White at a frat party.
• People ask me all time why I haven’t retired. Simple. I suck at it.
• I’m entering my 14^th year with Penserra. Talk about mind-blowing. These days, I spend most of my time serving as a compliance officer. I can’t believe that, either. I’m proof that square pegs can sometimes fit into round holes.
• The Pretty Blonde was, is, and will forever be my hero. Her job at St. Mary’s College is already challenging, and it’s about to become even more so. Watch this space.
• I have my health, yes, but I need to be better. I look like a hobbit.
• I’m vaxxed and boosted. So is everyone I know and spend time with. That being said, I respect the right of anyone who has decided not to get jabbed, just so long as I have the right to assume that you believe the CIA killed Kennedy, that you plowed all of your retirement savings into Beanie Babies, and that America would really be great again if smallpox, polio, and smoking on airplanes were to make a comeback.
• My best investment in 2021 was a Sonos Move portable speaker. Game changer.
• I am hopelessly in love with Brody, my 15-month-old, 65-pound English Cream golden retriever puppy. He’s goofier than I am, and that’s a pretty high bar.
• The wisdom of getting older is realizing that the passing years can never be recaptured. They’re gone. My advice to all my readers is this; don’t let another year fly by. Don’t let another day be wasted. Carpe Diem, damn it. Seize the day. Make the best of it, for yourself as well as others. 2022 can be the best year of your life. Find love. Find joy. Find hope. It’s in all of us, and it’s in the world around us. Don’t let another day go by where you don’t believe today can be better than yesterday.

Happy 2022. I promise I’ll write again soon.