Still crazy...

Today is my birthday: 63 years old! How did that happen? I can still remember buying - and the listening in awe - to the Beatles' new album: Sgt. Pepper! What a magical moment that was for so many of us. My best friend at the time, Ross, was on summer vacation with his family and we wrote back and forth to one another of listening to that record over and over as the summer matured. I was 15 and it seemed as if we had entered a parallel universe that millions of others had discovered, too. I still love that album and own it (and play it) in vinyl from time to time, too.

A few nights ago, as we were walking Lucie in the late evening after the rain, there was a group of unruly young men gathered on the far side of our local park. Suspicion and apprehension was heightened as the potent smell of ganga wafted our way - and we prepared for the worse. And then, from the portable, roving piano that the city has placed throughout Montreal this summer, came the gentle piano riff we know as John Lennon's "Imagine." We paused as six young male voices sang a verse and chorus together in French - and experienced a bit of peace.
Like Springsteen observed a while back, these are better days - hard, challenging, complex and often demanding - but better, too. Thank you to my friends who have sent birthday greetings and love. I am grateful for your affection and attention. Thank you to my dear family, too who still find ways to love me after all these years. More and more, I find myself embracing the cosmic, comic wisdom of Paul Simon....