Tag: family

What Does It Mean To Live A Good Life?

Intersecting, connecting, and missing the dots.

The title of this post is actually a quote from an excellent post by Elizabeth Lopatto on The Verge. I’ll get to that in a minute. You should read it.

I read Lopatto’s article this morning, the morning after we said goodbye to my step-father-in-law, James Bach, at a lovely memorial service. He passed earlier this summer after a long battle with Alzheimers. Because his life intersected and touched so many different worlds it took what seemed like a Herculean effort to find a day that lined up with the schedules for those who populate those different worlds, allowing them to gather together to say their goodbyes.

It was a lovely day, a lovely event, and a lovely send off for a good man who led a good life.

Recovering from it all as I read the aforementioned article this morning, it got me wondering. Lopatto, leaping off from Zuckerberg’s recent manifesto that seems to offer something approaching a better approach to AI than the one all the AI gurus initially pitched that pissed off just about anyone other than their co-religionists, quotes the following:

Everyone will have an exceptionally capable personal agent that understands you, your goals, and everything you care about. Your agent will work 24/7 on your behalf to improve your relationships, health, career, finances, home management, hobbies, and more.

That begs the question, what happens to those personal agents when you die?

Do they gather and reminisce and celebrate the life that’s gone? Do they summarize it, write and send out the obituary to your contacts? Order your favorite flowers? Put together the slide shows? Order the food? Do they keep on keeping on, doing your thing after you’ve shuffled off the mortal coil? Does someone just flip a switch? Does it tally a score and measure the goodness (or the badness)?

Jim and I shared many a deep discussion about topics like this, and this is one I wish we’d had the time to share with before the disease came into his life almost a decade ago. I’m sure he’d have had plenty of thoughts on the matter.

Now I know a part of all of this is that some of the AI is everything crowd hopes it will lead to a future that lets them live in their bunkers or float on their yachts forever. I pity those that think that way.

Certainly I’m in a moment when emotions are still a bit raw. Even so, as I think back on yesterday when I watched family, friends, acquaintances, some of whom hadn’t seen each other in years, some of whom had never met, come together in a room and embrace their connections, listen to remembrances they knew they shared and discover similar ones they never knew they had in common, all made possible by the life of one good man, it makes me shake my head in wonder how intelligent individuals trying to paint our futures completely miss the point of it all.

Quoting Lopatto again:

Is the point of life merely to stockpile accomplishments? If that is what Silicon Valley believes, no wonder all the billionaires seem so unhappy all the time! They have traded experience for accomplishment, and cheated themselves out of their own lives in the process.

Cheat away on your own behalf. The rest of us will continue to experience the ups and downs that make life worth living, sharing, and remembering. Try as you might, that’s something you can’t quantify.

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We Had Some Adventures

A great (and greatly exhausting) weekend!

We’re back home after a crazy long weekend celebrating my birthday with the grandkids. We had some adventures on land, in chasing a few leaves around the pool, and walking across a few bridges. 

This grandpa couldn’t have asked for a better time celebrating.

Now to prepare for our next trip. 

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Achievement Unlocked: 70 Spins Around The Sun

I hit seven decades of living on this planet today. That’s 15 years beyond the shelf life of males on my father’s side of the family, so feeling pretty good about the accomplishment.

Celebrating with grandkids and family this weekend after a joint party last week with a dear friend who shares the same birthday week. (That’s where the picture above is from.)

Onward.

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.

 

There Are Days and There Are Days

Some days are insanely hectic, bordering on maddening. Some bring something resembling a calmer pace. Some days you just need to park the car, have a sit, and check out the scenery.

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Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Moments Captured and Not Captured

Sometimes a camera isn’t necessary to capture a moment in your heart.

There was a lasting moment last weekend after my wife’s performance in Hope Summer Rep’s production of Always Patsy Cline. The memory of the occasion will last even though there’s only a few dark and blurry photographs of the moments immedieatly after. 

A bevy of family members had come into town for the show from several points on the compass. They included our grandchildren, eager to see Grandma T on stage. After the show the family fan club waited for my wife to appear and when she exited the theatre from the backstage door she was about a block away.

Our grandson saw her, and holding a bouquet of flowers took off running at a full gallop to greet her. As speedy as he was, the run seemed to last forever.

Now every adult had a camera on hand. But no one captured the run. Afterwards we all admitted that the length and speed of his running had us all holding our breath, afraid our sprinting grandson would take a tumble before he reached his grandma. 

He made it. In high style. The photo above shows him and his sister, (who eventually caught up at a slightly safer pace) giving their Grandma T big hugs. 

It’s a moment we all captured in our hearts, if not on video. It’s also one none of us will ever forget, but always share.

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Today I Climbed Trees

Spending the day with the grandkids. And today my grandson and I decided to climb a few trees.

Actually he decided to climb a few trees. I just snapped the pictures.

And it was good.

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Taking a breath

It’s been a crazy whirlwind of emotions lately. A death in the family. Keeping up with the grandkids. Celebrating my wife’s latest theatre gig. With that, Sunday Morning Reading is on hiatus this week. 

Enjoy your Sunday, while I enjoy time with the grandkids. (If they don’t wear me out!)

Thanks for reading. Feel free to subscribe if you want. It’s free. If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. This site does not use affilate links. 

What A Day! What A Night!

That was some humdinger of a day and night yesterday. First up, we celebrated the grandson’s graduation from pre-school. 

We followed that up by taking the grandkids across the state of Michigan to see Hope Summer Repertory’s production of Always Patsy Cline, featuring their “Grandma T” playing Louise. We weren’t the only family there for that evening’s fun and celebrations, as others made their way in from Chicago.

Watching two youngsters (4 and 2) watch their grandma on stage was a delight for this cynical SOB of a grandpa, let me tell you. 

It was quite a day. And in many ways, the weekend and the crazy week ahead is just beginning. 

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Congrats To The Grad!

Pomp and Circumstances

Congrats to my grandson Sylvester, (we call him Sly) on graduating from pre-school today.

Glad I got to attend the ceremony with his proud parents, and his oh, so skeptical sister. Her time’s coming. Now, on to bigger and better things in kindergarten this fall and beyond. 

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.