Early June Thoughts

Hi everyone,

Yesterday at the farmer's market, some stalls were selling vegetable seedlings at a discount because it's the end of the planting season. Can time really be moving so fast?

On Friday I accompanied Eddie to one of his pre-op appointments. The entire effort now is at preparing for major surgery, the first in Eddie's life, on June 29th.

Recovery and recuperation happens in stages, measured first in weeks, then months. And we are planning for it. Don and Harriet (brother and sister in law) have kindly volunteered to stay at my folks' Pennsylvania cabin and look after the domestic fauna, while Eddie recovers in the city. Hana, Leda, and I will all be in New York with him.

One perhaps unexpected aspect to this health crisis is the re-appearance of Eddie's mother's letters. Dorothy Marritz had a degnerative nerve disease from the time Eddie was born, and died shortly after he reached adulthood. In the last few months, Eddie and his older bothers Robert and Don have been scanning and circulating via email various letters she wrote. These illustrate the unique Marritz family dynamic - all families have one, similar almost to a fingerprint - and also Dorothy's very personal thoughts on pain and health. It amazes me again and again that a voice on the page can have so much power, many years later.

After the appointment on Friday, Eddie and I stood in torrential rain, waiting for a crosstown bus. Then we caught "Before Midnight". Great movie, I think he and I would both recommend it.