High Five!

Celebrating a few good things here at the Chronicles: 1) Congress (finally) repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell. As of today, we're officially willing to let gays die for their country. You kids go take a few bullets for us and who knows? someday we may even let you get married. 2) Tomorrow is the winter solstice. Those of you who live closer to the equator probably don't understand what the big deal is, but we who dwell in the not-so-much-daylight-at-this-time-of-year latitudes will be happy to see the days starting to lengthen again. By the way, I totally buy into the story of Demeter and Persephone. It's the only explanation that really makes sense. I used to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to my daughter when she was little. If someone had taken her away for six months at a time, my sunlight would have gone with her. 3) Tomorrow is also my mother's birthday. Were she still alive, she would have been 88 years old. She was a great believer in self-reliance ("'I am the captain of my ship, the master of my destiny,'" she'd quote to us.), a great disbeliever in whining ("I'd feel sorry for you, but you seem to be doing an adequate job of that on your own.") and a thorough pragmatist ("If there's something you have to do, and there's no way to get out of it, do it gracefully.") I'm trying, Mama.