Half the Sky Below Me, Family Party

My family is having a party. My sister was organizing an invitation this week and looking for a photo that showed us all together simultaneously. It was a challenge because I have seven siblings, and to find a photo of us all together is a challenge, especially as adults. The Last photo with all eight of us was from 40 years ago. It was 1982, I was heading out of state for school, and my mom wanted a picture of all the kids together again. The search for a digital copy of the e-vite reminded me of the truism of Time Flys. I tried to make an AI version of the photo for my sister to use. However, she was able to make a good scan from a photo.

Now we are having a party at the request of my oldest sibling, another sister. She wants to get us all together because we are getting older, and who knows when we can get together again? One of my brothers has already passed. Our next family photo will be of just the remaining seven. I will fly up for the day to my nephew's house just outside of Seattle. I have planned out my stamina for the day. If I sleep on the plane both ways, I should be able to handle a few hours of family picnic time in the middle. I am also looking forward to a new photo and being the tallest sibling yet again.

What am I reading this week?

J G Ballard | The Complete Sort Stories

The best part of reading with an app is that I can drag around this giant book on my phone. It has taken me weeks to read most of the stories. One I read was later a novel Empire of the Sun about a boy caught up in an internment camp for Prisoners of the Japanese in China during world war two. At the end of the war, it covers this young boy tasked with driving a truck full of bodies to bury as the last demand on him before freedom. It's a bit more gruesome than the movie version of the same name. Many stories in the last part of the book are about a defunct NASA space program and a time sickness that spreads out from Florida.

One I read today was dark but funny about a man who checks out of life and sits in his garden window with a clever ready to dispatch his neighbors' pets for super. He knew all the pets by name, and the image of him sitting calmly with a hidden clever made me laugh. He has no remorse. Also, in this story, he is exploring his house, which now seems vast and full of light, now that his wife has left him. He says something like he is, "So excited I feel elevated with half the sky below me." At the same time, I don't want to clever any poodles I know by name. I like feeling so happy and elevated that half the sky is below me when I look out on my world.