Has anybody here seen Corey, Mike, and Tom? Can you tell me where they've gone...

2025--don't let the door hit you on the way out...

On many levels, 2025 was a mixed bag. Professionally, I have relatively few complaints.

On a personal level, my life has been great. Stephen and I are moving forward with a wonderfully loving journey. I would like to share something about our life together for a future post.

My home has been undergoing many renovations--and I do mean many.

Over the course of the past two years, I now have a desperately needed new bathroom, a new ceiling in the dining room, a new stairwell, a beautiful new kitchen (not completed at the time of this posting), a new back door, and every window in the house has been replaced.

I'm never going to get to retire (three years away, actually).

Where 2025 failed us was the passing of three close friends. Thomas, a dear close friend passed away on April Fool's Day, after being stricken with pancreatic cancer. His passing was a devastating blow to our circle of friends--and especially to Roger, his husband of seven years.

Tom was a great man. He lived life to the fullest. He loved his friends, family, and his husband. He was generous, perhaps to a fault. Generous of his time, his money, to civic causes, and his exuberant personality. Time was a consummate jokester. His laughter was contagious. Tom was larger than life, and we all miss him very, very much. Tom was 60 years old.

On July 30, my friend Corey peacefully passed away in his sleep--I assume from cardiac issues. Corey was a friend of more years than I dare to count. We talked on many subjects, be it plants, our pets, our travels, walking for pleasure, and our dining out experiences. One regret I have always had--both Stephen's and mine--is that I never invited him out to our Saturday night dining out group.

His mother posted the following for his obituary... His life was a testament to the adage by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children... to leave the world a bit better... to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

I've always envied Corey. He was an increcdibly well traveled man. How could he not have been? He had a long career as a travel agent. Yes, I have traveled but always under the guise of military duty. Mike truly got to see the world through the eyes as a tourist. Corey was 55.

Our friend (the dining group) said our farewells most recently to our friend Mike. Mike passed away on 12 December from an incredibly aggressive, very rare disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). There is no treatment or cure for CJD. Once diagnosed, a person's life is but a matter of weeks, even days. Mike lived but three weeks (or so) after his diagnosis.

Mike was that rare man. Kind. Gentle. Loving. Loved to laugh. LOVED to dance. A father and grandfather who led a life by example. There is not a person alive who could have a bad thing to say about Mike.

These three losses have been life-changing for me. Each of these friends were younger than I, making me feel my mortality quite a bit.

I'd like to close paraphrasing a line from the song "Abraham, Martin, and John."

They touched a "lotta people but it seems the good they die young,
I just looked around and they're gone,
Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?

Rest in peace, dear friends. You left us too soon.

Farewell, June Lockhart

Farewell, June Lockhart. Lockhart appeared on three television series Lassie, Lost in Space, and she also portrayed Dr. Janet Craig, after joining the cast of the CBS sitcom Petticoat Junction, after Bea Benederet passed away from lung cancer. She appeared on ABC-TV's General Hospital in the 1980s and 90s. She and five of her Lost in Space colleagues made cameo appearances in the 1998 Lost in Space movie. Her last role was in the 2021 Lost in Space remake (voice only).

She was well-known for portraying intelligent, compassionate, strong, loving women.

June was a two-time Emmy Award nominee and a Tony Award winner. Her career spanned nearly 90 years. Lockhart was one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She debuted on stage at the age of 8. Her film debut was with her parents, Gene Lockhart and Kathleen Lockhart in a filmed version of A Christmas Carol.

She is survived by her daughters Anne, June Elizabeth, and her four grandchildren. June was 100 years old and passed from natural causes.

Where is Congressional oversight?

He LIED! Imagine that?

First, he said his 200 million dollar ballroom would not impact the existing East Wing building. He said it was being funded by donations, not tax dollars. Should we believe any of that? I do not.

Then, this week the demolition began.

Now, we learn the entire East Wing is to be demolished! Now, the cost of the ballroom is expected to be 300 million dollars.

We all know government spending is never what they claim it will be.

Did the Donald approach Congress? Did he consult with the National Trust for Historic Preservation? Did he consult with historians? Did he ever, perhaps most importantly, consult with the American people?

Where is government oversight? Where is transparency?

The question remains--why? The Donald says people have clamored for 150 years that we need an extravagant White House ballroom. Funny, I've not once in my years heard of a movement decrying this. This is nothing short of a dictator wannabe flexing his muscles.

The current East Wing will be gone in a matter of days.

If this does not scream "I do not intend to leave office--not ever," I do not know what is.

I anxiously look forward to the "No Kings 3" rallies.

A Man. Charlie was just a man

I hope I don't take heat for this. I hope this is the last time I have to say anything about this subject. Charlie Kirk was just a man. 

Yes, it was a terrible thing that Kirk was assassinated before a crowd of 3,000 followers. No one deserves to be gunned down as he was. No one deserves to be gunned down. Not ever.

Yesterday, the memorial in Arizona held in his honor, he seemed to have been elevated to messiah. 90,000 people in attendance? 90,000?

And why? He preached hate couched in love. But if this is his brand of love, I don't want to love anymore.

I would venture a guess that most of those in attendance had never heard of a Charlie Kirk before he was shot, and not until the conservative element saw an opportunity to use his passing as a means to wage war on their perceived enemies.

 This is no secret. Kirk will be turned into a martyr to a cause that is best exemplified by 1950s America--an America best buried but not forgotten. How else will we learn from the lessons of our past? The question is, will we?

Charlie preached that gun violence is a necessary evil if it means we continue protecting the Constitution's 2nd amendment. Charlie preached that gays are deserving of being put to death. He preached that retirement is not necessary. Charlie preached that women should be beholden, subservient to their man. He preached a whole lot more. His views were (and are) incendiary.

So I ask, is this the kind of person we want shaping public policy?

I repeat, Charlie Kirk was just a man. ONE man. 

Does our country go insane when a classroom of school children is gunned down? Shoppers at a mall? Worshippers at a Jewish synagogue? Theatergoers? A woman hiding from a crazed ex-husband? A gay bar?

You see, we don't--we don't go crazy over these senseless deaths, and we sure as hell should.

Charlie, Charlie, where have you gone?

I wanted to wait 24 hours before addressing the Charlie Kirk assassination.

First, thoughts and prayers. Yes, that is me being cynical.

Second, I am appalled and saddened by this act of violence. Violence is never the answer to political discourse. Violence is not the answer to anything. Not ever.

Third: I see the conservatives bemoaning a death of one of their own, BUT where was their anguish and outrage when Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark (and their family dog) were gunned down in their home on June 14? President Trump could hardly be bothered to comment on that tragedy.

Trump has ordered flags flown at half mast. Did he do the same for Representative Hortman? Trump announced today he is going to posthumously award Kirk the Congressional Medal of Freedom.

No comment.

Fourth, i despise just about everything Kirk stood for. He was a divisive as many others of his political party, particularly Mr. Agent Orange.

Do I feel sorry for Kirk? A bit, yes. I feel sorry for any victim of gun violence. Who I really feel sorry for are those left behind—Kirk’s wife and his two young children. I feel sympathy for the hundred in his audience who witnessed this act firsthand.

Fifth, we are a torn, wounded, suspicious society. No one trusts the perceived other side. Funny, I thought we were Americans, not bitter enemies.

The gun violence plaguing our nation will not go away, nor will it cease with just thoughts and prayers.