Holy schmoly it is the Fourth of July again. Just identified a female golden crowned kinglet, a US/Canadian west coast songbird, on My Rebecca’s rose bush outside my breakfast window. That is a good start to the holiday. I think that I have seen them before but they are not that common here.

We will be down at the harbor this evening watching the fireworks burst overhead. Friends have a home on the water and a terrific place to watch the show. On the Fourth I am reminded of my cancer commando buddy Jennifer who died a few years ago. She was always trying to make it to another Fourth.

I am around a lot of folks who are openly or privately trying to make it to another milestone on the calendar. That is my life these days and I do it too. It lends a certain flavor to life to be in this struggle.

Last evening I heard the news of the death of a young person in our community that died of the results of alcohol addiction. I had worked with her during her high school years. And here she turns up dead in her late twenties. I mourn.

The juxtaposition of these two realities wears on me today. I don’t know enough about addiction to talk about it really but it seems way too commonplace. Maybe it is me immersed in the reality of working extremely hard to keep alive, I don’t know. I grieve for both groups today.

But I have to shake that off at some point today to celebrate this the 243rd birthday of our nation. See you guys tomorrow.

firecracker loves, Felipé.