Lucky

Yes I know I have lost functionality in the past few months, become more clumsy and slurred, and yes it alarms me. But yesterday my two-year-old daughter told me she wanted to push her baby doll in the stroller to the park (which is about four blocks away). And as I accompanied her, it struck me how lucky I am, not just to have such a wonderful daughter, but also to have had ALS for over a year and yet still be able to walk with her to the park, including the parts where I carry her and the stroller across the street. We had a good time at the park. On the way back, she bundled the baby doll in its quilt and carried it along, kissing it on the top of the head every now and then. "I'm cuddling her," she said. On the last block my daughter wanted to be carried, so I carried her and the stroller (she carried baby doll), for a block. And yes it was a strain on my arm and yes I did have to walk very carefully so that my left toe did not catch up on something. But I did it. Soon she will be too big to carry, but soon she'll be able to cross the street while holding hands.

Lucky man.

There was an article in yesterday's S.F. Chronicle which mentioned this blog.

My cold is taking the usual course but I am not miserable yet. I will see the doctor, perhaps even today. And I have the antibiotics for chickens in my closet.

As to Iraq, expect the U.S. to bug out in 2005, beginning the process after the Jan. 30 elections. The super-tough New Right will turn tail and run, with lots of hand-waving about how we can't solve all the problems in the world, and how the Iraqis have to sort their own problems out. As the blood seeps under the closed door the phrase will be that we can't "turn Iraq into Sweden." As a fractured cauldron of theocratic terrorist training camps blossoms, expect the dialog to be about how the liberals made this happen because they're so disloyal.