Well it's back to old grind. In the course of two weeks i went from birthday boy to pall bearer. A trip to the South Carolina coast to celebrate my 60'th birthday was really refreshing. The site of large areas of unspoiled nature buoys my spirit and reminds me that the whole world is not as it is in the Northeast.

My poor Aunt Anna Mae passed away during my time away so I had to round my vacation trip with her funeral. She was 97 years old and my mother's sister. I remember her so fondly as a cheerful and very practical person. She married a State Trooper who I idolized beyond all bounds. I recall them as the perfect post war couple, with a marvelous house and interesting vacations and friends. They were people of intense religious faith and solid middle class virtues. As a child I thought that suburban life would endure forever. Now, it all seems like a dream. We are in the age of tiny families, day care, and paycheck to paycheck living.

So I woke up on my Sixtieth birthday and was shocked to find that I was not one wit wiser than I was they day before. Of course I suppose I'm not a true senior citizen until I turn 65. I bet I'll be no more Obi wan Kanobi'ish then than I am now. I was hoping to evolve into a sage but I guess I'm just turning into a character. The effect of age on me seems to be a lack of interest in all the "new and exciting" things that are going on. This is mainly because they are neither new or exciting and because I've seen it all before. My time is spent more in trying to avoid doing stupid things than in trying to save the world. I'm glad to have been a small part of the Reagan Revolution, and I had fun in the Sixties. It was good to have been part of the Kean Administration despite the failings of same. My public career is over. I've got my pension and public is on it's own.

My dear friend Peggy arranged a dinner for me and a few of her friends at the national Press Club the evening before the funeral. What a cozy bar! We sat at "The Members Table" and had a very reasonable dinner. Curiously for an establishment that is technically in the South, they had no really good bourbon. This was not a real disappointment but it is odd. Their semi-famous bean soup was quite good and the fish and chips I had was better than I had any right to expect, far better than any served around here.

I friend gave me a tiny folding knife that doubles as a money clip. It's a little marvel of engineering and is an excellent little tool, serving as a razor sharp letter opener, money clip and nail parer. In an emergency one might even use it to defend oneself. it's encouraging to see something fine made in America. I've had other products of the Colorado Knife and Tool Company and everything they make seems a cut above (pardon the pun). I wonder if they are a publicly traded company?