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Thursday, June 30, 2022

Some Moments Of Great Happiness Followed By Moments Of Profound Shock And Sadness

     Some of the happiest memories of my time at Tulane University are the magical times when we would get in the car and drive from New Orleans to Houma, Louisiana. We would arrive at the house of my Uncle Howard and Aunt Marion. Aunt Marion would have worked all morning cooking a lovely pork roast with white meat. There would be excellent vegetables and a salad. It would be a time of warm love and lively conversations. Each year at this time, Elena and I go to a special dinner at Pizza Delfina in Palo Alto. You need to sign up and pay in advance. You eat outside with some bright and lively people. There are wonderful salads and vegetables. The centerpiece is a beautiful white meat pork roast washed down with great Italian beer. It is like being back at Aunt Marion's house long ago. It is a happy time!

     After that happiness last night, I awakened to sadness this morning. The Financial Times of London announced that progress was not being made in negotiations in Turkey to free up Ukraine grain for shipment to North Africa and the Middle East. This sets up the real possibility of hundreds of thousands of people starving to death and many more suffering painful hunger.

     Then I got some sad personal news. Colleen Roth Moore was a good friend in high school. She stayed interested in all of us. She would keep in touch with the alumnae of Ross S. Sterling High School. Each October, she would open her home in Conroe, Texas, for a reunion of Ross S. Sterling graduates. Colleen seemed to be in good health and just fine. I got the sad news from her daughter that she had passed away unexpectedly. In the original ending of the movie "Blade Runner" from 1986, Harrison Ford and Sean Young are riding in a futuristic flying car. Harrison Ford gives a monologue that ends with these profound words:

       "Then none of us knows how much time we have left."

  

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