The pep and vigour of youth is indisputably welcome and inspiring.  As diminished as my carcass is first thing in the morning, I am nonetheless thoroughly revitalized by the unmistakable gusto of young people! Specifically I allude in this instance to my niece and her husband. They’re models of energy, utility and sprightly impression. We rallied with them and my sister and her husband at their residence in Ottawa South today.  Preserving the correct social distancing, we congregated in the garden beneath the shade of the burgeoning trees and sipped coffee. When the wind occasionally picked up we were dusted by the floating cherry blossoms.

Our rambling conversations captured predictable and universal themes.  Among them were the topics of the pandemic, travel, cooking (including the laudable preparations of my niece), what if anything one has done during the isolation period, who died recently, the stock market, upcoming and current motor vehicle trends and one’s health and the weather.

Though it was not directly related to anything we said, I received during our tête-à-tête two emails which gave me singular encouragement. I shall spare my reader the discourtesy of recounting the contents of those primarily business-related communications – other that is than to say things are moving ahead! It is the serendipity of events which strengthens me. The commotion of one’s private affairs is invariably a tissue of influence just below the surface. Addressing such folderol is my idea of advancement, admittedly a third-rate compliment given my over-all state of inactivity. Yet the leverage exists notwithstanding I am willing to confess the sparsity of the improvement.

As a hopeless obsessive I am accustomed to the mercurial state of being. I derive comfort from engagement in bustle howsoever measurable and protean. The characterization of progress is never completely certain; but I am convinced that addressing an issue is a good start. There are frankly some who persist to imagine that ignorance is performance.

Quelled by the fortuity of the afternoon I flatter the convenience to suggest that all is well in the best of all possible worlds! Rather smugly we leisurely transported ourselves homeward. Family foregathering – not unlike any intimacy – should never be unduly prolonged. Like grandparents escaping the reality of children we were able to withdraw from the familial convention without further commitment while at the same time having succeeded to nurture our genetic obligation.