1. It wasn't really jet lag, but I had what I'd call auto lag today. I spent a lot of time lying down, resting and napping, on the bed with Copper and, lo and behold, Copper positioned himself close enough to me that he made actual physical contact with my shoulder. Until today, Copper limited his contact with me to my thighs or calves, most often when I was under the covers.
February 3rd will mark the fourth anniversary of Copper and Luna coming into our home. Luna died a year ago and now, after nearly four years, Copper has made contact with my shoulder!
What else might be in store for Copper and me?
2. I'm going to take a break for a little while from strictly beautiful things and write a few words about a something sad I learned today.
Every so often, I go to Eugene's local paper, the Register Guard, and scan the obituaries. I usually find out about fellow parishioners from St. Mary's Episcopal Church who have died in the twice a week email I receive from the church.
But, it's through these obituaries that I learn about people I worked with at LCC or that I studied with at the U of O, sometimes fellow graduate students who either stayed in or returned to the Eugene area.
Today, I learned that on December 9th, a fellow faculty member from the English, Foreign Language, and Speech division at LCC, Jack Robert, died.
Jack taught speech.
I almost immediately recalled a Saturday afternoon in 1998, when I was the chair of the division, and Jack and Mike Skupsky and I played snooker downtown at Luckey's Club.
We drank a lot of beer. Mike and Jack introduced me to the game of snooker. We had a great time together.
As time went along, though, Mike, Jack, and I would never hang out together again, thanks largely to disagreements about hiring and other things at LCC.
Jack and I didn't have disagreements about hiring -- we worked very well together on (I think) two hiring committees in the Speech department and I admired his insights about candidates and how he articulated his thoughts about whom the committee should hire.
But, hmmm, what I would call Jack's libertarian worldview was often at odds with the emerging culture at Lane Community College.
For example, Jack was a prominent voice on campus in opposition to a campus wide smoking ban.
I supported the ban, but I also respected Jack's point of view, although I doubt he ever knew I did.
I heard through the grapevine that Jack was disappointed in my support of division and department governing principles like arriving at decisions by consensus, my support of Affirmative Action, and of what was and wasn't suitable language in the classroom, among other things.
I thought we were always friendly with each other in the hallways, but I knew a chill had also moved in between us, so we never played snooker again nor enjoyed beers together.
The sadness I experienced when this chill moved in about twenty-five years ago returned today.
But reading about Jack's life relieved me of this sadness.
I'd always heard that Jack had many talents and passions that we never saw on campus.
His obituary highlighted the things Jack loved to do: cook, host an annual Polish Christmas celebration, work with wood, restore and refurbish structures, throw pots, host and design sets for a readers' theater, travel with his partner Martha, and, I'd have to say, play an accomplished game of snooker!
When I was at Russell's retirement party on December 5, I was in conversation with Speech instructor Jay Frasier, and suddenly Jack Robert popped into my mind and I wondered how he was doing, wondered if he were still alive.
I didn't ask Jay.
The party was a joyous occasion and I just didn't feel like bringing the subject of who's dead and who's alive into the conversation.
Now I know he was alive on December 5th, but died on December 9th.
Learning this felt eerie to me -- I hadn't thought much about Jack over the years and I'm not sure why concern about him popped out of nowhere into my mind at the party.
Tonight, though, as I read his obituary, it made me happy to read that Jack's life in retirement and his life away from the college sounded fun, fulfilling, adventurous, and socially alive and satisfying.
Rest in peace, Jack.
By the way, if you'd like to read Jack's obituary and see a picture of him as a much younger man, here's a link: https://tinyurl.com/yvkpnhts
3. Debbie found a recipe on Pinterest for Mongolian Noodles. She combined ground beef, Thai Wheat Noodles, soy sauce, ginger powder, Hoisin sauce, chopped green onion, red pepper flakes, and I'm not sure what else and created a superb dish for our dinner tonight.
I hope we won't forget this meal and that Debbie brings it back again on down the road some time.
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