Empty Birthday — September 21, 2024 – John Agliata

🧩 Today’s Puzzle Pieces 🧩
Down Again🎶
Muri-cohmygoodness🗽
Cycle Breakers🎂

THE DAILY UPDATE

Three Things I Am Grateful For Today:

Honey-glazed salmon.
The game Sequence.
Stretching.

Pursuit of Wordle Godhood: Today’s result: Three! Booyah.

Wordle 1,190 3/6

🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
🟩⬜🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Pursuit of Connections Godhood: Today’s result: Five. Tricked by meat. Ugh.

Connections
Puzzle #468
🟨🟩🟦🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪

The song in my head when I woke up today: For the second day in a row, Don’t Let Me Down, by Joy Williams

Sept. 20: Don’t Let Me Down, by Joy Williams
Sept. 19: Four Stitches, by Antje Duvekot
Sept. 18: The theme song from the MEGA podcast. So that’s a new entry into my morning brain.
Sept. 17: Burn Me Once, by Bella White
Sept. 16: Follow Your Arrow, by Kacey Musgraves
Sept. 15: Burn Me Once, by Bella White
Sept. 13: It’s Not Over, by Daughtry
Sept. 12: In a radical departure from recent morning-brain songs, It’s So Easy, by Guns N’ Roses
Sept. 11: Complicated, by Avril Lavigne, who’s back in my morning brain after a one-day absence.
Sept. 10: Wide Open Spaces, by The Chicks. At least it’s not Avril Lavigne
Sept. 9: I’m With You, by Avril Lavigne
Sept. 8: When You’re Gone, by Avril Lavigne, for the second day in a row.
Sept. 7: When You’re Gone, by Avril Lavigne
Sept. 6: I Will Not Bow, by Breaking Benjamin
Sept. 5: It’s Been Awhile, by Staind
Sept. 4: So Far Away, by Staind
Sept. 3: Banana Boat, by Harry Belafonte
Sept. 2: One Love, by Bob Marley
Sept. 1: Welcome to the Black Parade, by My Chemical Romance

Favorite line from the song in my head when I woke up: I need you, I need you, I need you right now

Chill Tunes: While dinkin’ around the house after work, I listened to The Adventure Zone podcast.

Something I’m looking forward to today: Some post-baseball rest and relaxation.

Something I’m looking forward to in the next seven days: A guest-dog for Boy The Younger’s pet-sitting business who will be here next weekend.

Something I’m grateful for from yesterday: Boy The Elder and DIL coming over for dinner, a much-delayed birthday dinner for Wifey Poo.

What I’m writing: Yesterday’s Two Crappy Pages involved no writing. I really need to get back into the swing of writing something every day. Maybe doing this thing counts.

What I’ve written: Top 5 Problems America Refuses To Confront

Today is my birth father’s 83rd birthday. We haven’t spoken in more than a year, haven’t been in contact since March, when I asked him to decline any invitation to Boy The Elder’s wedding because BTE had asked me to deal with the drama created by my birth parents’ refusal to have an adult conversation to deal with their concerns from the long-simmering and often-boiling disagreements we’ve had for years and years and years.

Here’s the thing: I can imagine no scenarios in which I would say “no” to a conversation and instead choose having no relationship with my son, my daughter-in-law and my grandsons. It is insane to me that someone could say “I have an issue with you” and then, when the “you” says, “Cool, let’s talk about that so we can work it out,” reply with, “No.” That is sixth-grade playground-level drama and bullshit.

And so, my birth father celebrates his 83rd birthday without his only son in his life, without his only daughter-in-law in his life, without his only grandsons even remembering that it’s his birthday. It might seem logical to think he’ll spend a moment of reflection today and think, “I can’t believe I let my life get to this point,” but the truth is, he won’t. He’ll look at his batshit crazy wife to whom he’s pledged eternal loyalty despite her extreme lack of mental health and sit smugly in his truth, blaming everyone else but himself and his own weaknesses for his current situation.

The solace I take away from this is my own Truth, the Truth that my own family, the Core Four, the Fab Five and whatever is to follow as the years go on, will never reach a point like this. Cycle breakers are important in this world. My aunt was one. I am one. If there’s anything redeeming coming from the shit-storm that is my birth family, it’s the knowledge that said shit-storm stops with me and my family.

Would you please help a brutha out? I’ve created a weekly eNewsletter called News-B-Nuts in which I’ll be sending out news nuggets and witty commentary to subscribers. If you can, would you support this endeavor for just $5 a month via Patreon?

Empty Birthday — September 21, 2024

THE DAILY UPDATE

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