Today Papa watched television coverage of the re-opening of Notre Dame Cathedral. Hope spring back to life was a thought provoked. It marks the first time I’ve ever harbored the thought of visiting France. Well, that’s not entirely true….Normandy is an old dream. Let’s say a first such feeling towards Paris. A magnificent reconstruction. Makes the original building hundreds of years ago all the more amazing. No one recorded by whom or how that construction happened. Yet, a professor type today reported she learned much about the craftsmanship of so long ago by looking at tool cuts into uncovered stone at heights accessed by re-building scaffolds.
Remarkably this is another day on which Papa marvels at being up and at it. Quadruple heart by-pass was 36 years ago. All the stuff I’ve seen. The scary 2000 calendar change in the rear view mirror. ( It was a thing….computers might crash in confusion.) An entire new legal career. A longer retirement than ever thought possible. And, you four rascals. I once tried to track down my heart surgeon to thank him but no success. He’s living on a boat somewhere near Florida is all I learned. Let those skilled hands live in peaceful retirement.
And, of course, December 7th means so much in American history. Read history. Know the history of Pearl Harbor. A man of 104 years of age from Beaverton made the trip back to remember. Took PT so he could stand/participate. When you hear “greatest generation” there is a ton of truth to the moniker.