September 17, 2001 - 11:53 p.m.
I've mentioned in the past that I have a thing for pirate tales, so I had to get a Pirate Name: Red Anne Read. Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. Even through many pirates have a reputation for not being the brightest souls on earth, you defy the stereotypes. You've got taste and education. Arr! Which is surprising since I had to confess that I really liked the movie Cutthroat Island....Darn thing almost looks like a palindrome, though.
Took a breather this weekend and tried to catch up with the news in a reasonable, level-headed manner, enjoy time with my husband and son, and take the DM's role in our group's rpg for the first time in about 8 years. I'm rusty and dealing with a new edition of rules to boot. Ei! I console myself with the spiff purple dice Rich and Gabrielle gave me for my birthday.
I don't remember if I mentioned going to visit my grandparents last week. I so wish I could talk to my grandfather about last Tuesday - ask him if this is what 1941 was like for him, when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in the wake of Pearl Harbor. He didn't know me, though, and conversations are difficult with him because he mumbles and drifts through unrelated subjects.
I drove home that afternoon, passing though old Fredricksburg on my way to Rt 3 and I-95. I passed the cemetery where some of my ancestors are buried, including one who defended Marye's Heights. It's just by the Sunken Road - site of legendary carnage now surrounded by apartments and other modern conveniences. I-295 took my past the exits for Cold Harbor and Seven Pines; I-64 by Yorktown and Fort Monroe. Reminders of our conflicts sear down the centuries to us, familiar and striking all at the same time. We have survived, perhaps "against greater odds than a more benevolent God would allow."
And speaking of God... Fallwell and Robertson have once again taken the role of the embarrassing relatives I'd love to lock in a closet somewhere. Some grasp of politics should be a prerequisite for seminary. Their statements, based on a deuteronomic theory of retribution, are the typical fundamentalist simplified vision of the world - terrible that they would say them, horrifying that they would choose to say them now.
