I went on a long, long train ride to SE Portland and back last week to visit Dad, who’s in the hospital on account of… well, I’m not entirely sure what got him there but “just plain getting old” is what it boils down to. He may or may not remember that I was there, that’s how out-of-it he was, but I made the trip and did my best. And yes, I kept my Flo Mask on the entire time.

We’re not a close-knit family, but that doesn’t make it any less gut-wrenching to realize that we’re also all just plain getting older. It’s the way of things, I suppose.