Sunday Potpourri

As I look out my window at the newly harvested fields on the west side of our farm on a glorious fall day, I am filled with gratitude. To my teachers and professors for shaping my mind, to the Navy for shaping my character, to Catherine and the girls for shaping my compassion and to my parents for virtually everything else. I bitch a lot about the world we live in these days, but sitting here--in the present--I am embarrassed by my good fortune but thankful for it.

Tuesday will be a big day for the country, and no, not because your 2019 NCAA Men's College Basketball Champion Virginia Cavaliers kick off their season, though that is not unimportant. It will be a big day because we'll have a chance to collectively register our thoughts about where we are and where we are going as a country. My sense though, is that all we have a right to expect as a people is for our respective priors to be confirmed. It appears that the Senate will either stay Republican or get a little more so, and that the House will flip. Both sides will claim great victories, and neither will have a right to do so. We will find ourselves in a worse version of where we are now, and we have no right to expect better. We HAVE the government we deserve. Anyone who thinks we deserve better should show their work.

The trip to Charlottesville this past Friday for the game vs. Pitt was a mixed event. The game itself sucked. For the first twelve minutes of the first quarter I sat in a torrential downpour. Then the weather actually got pretty nice, but the team Virginia had on the field was pretty inept. Additionally, four starters were injured during the game, not a good sign for the future. I was worried about this one all week, I thought we were overrated, that we are a decent team in a terrible conference. I suspected Virginia fans were getting ahead of themselves, and I think I was right. We're not bad, we're just good. Barely.

I saw some of my best friends in the world the other night, guys I've had laughs with since the fall of 1983. At one point during the game, late, when it was clear we were going to lose, I just stood up and looked at them, and thought about how much time we'd spent together and how dear they are to me. This is the kind of thing I need to do more of, I think. Just being in the moment, not worrying about past injuries or future schemes. Totally present. It was sublime.