Packin’ it in a bit early for the week (and for next week, too, for that matter…)

I realize posting has been very light this week, and probably a few of you new visitors are quite sure, given the dearth of hard-nosed and pithy commentary about important stuff, that Possumblog’s “unknown” status is richly deserved. Which is quite observant of you.

But I have had other barrels of fish to burn at both ends, and other beeswax to run up the flagpole, namely the pursuit of gainful employment.

Martina, baby, you’re right—everything’s for money here in the good ol’ US o’A, and since I don’t have the wondrous ability to insure the safety of the world’s health, ethics or the environment by playing tennis and being a lesbian, I am chained to the only thing I know to do, which is to work and try to make enough money to be able to go with my wife and kiddies on vacation next week. So, I have tried extra special hard the last couple of days to get everything cleared up enough and far enough ahead that I will not be swamped upon my return. Hence the lack of time to use my walnut-sized marsupial brain for other tasks, such as high-quality blogging or buying Q-Tips. Tomorrow will be meetings all morning, then meetings all afternoon, so this is it for a few days.

I will be completely disconnected from a computer next week, so for the thousa…hundr…three of you who try to get in touch with me or send me a story about Mee-maw killing that guy, you will have to wait for my return for acknowledgement. But when I get back, whooboy are y’all gonna hear some stories.

We will be going (thankfully in separate vehicles) with my in-laws, thus insuring our survival given Grandmom’s propensity for buying out the grocery store before leaving. She has been packing for three weeks now (honest—I am not making this part up) and has bought huge quantities of provender and cups and plates and napkins and water and juice and everything else which would normally be required to supply a Marine Recon unit for three months in the jungle. Apparently there are no such things as grocery stores along the Redneck Riviera.

We also are bringing the children with us, insuring that Daddy will not get to do what he would really like to do on vacation--stay in the room, watch the History Channel, and molest his wife. Instead, I will act as chauffeur, dodging sunburnt maroons riding electric scooters on the little strip of asphalt between the white stripe and the edge of the pavement, and going into every single place that has sunglasses and shells to explore the fruitful bounties of the Chinese plastics industry in the form of dolphin penlights and keychains with “Gufl Shures” written on the side. And there will be go-karts, and miniature golf, and the swallowing of much pool water.

It will be the weekend every day, which can only mean that I will return even more exhausted than when the weekend is only two days long. And you know what that means—a single, 30,000 word blog entry.

And since I won’t have access to a computer, it also means that I won’t be able to post anything in celebration of our country’s birth. So, I lifted the introduction from the Inaugural Address of John Kennedy (via the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library and Museum). Sounds pretty good to me, especially considering a lot of the commentary floating around the past few days.

We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge--and more.

Hope you all have a great holiday—see you when I get back.
posted by Terry at 4:37:00 PM