Jack’s coming back and he’s bringing two people with him. One’s on an all liquid diet, they’re a baby, they’re Jack and Elena’s baby. It’s a good Christmas gift, him coming back. He only told me the news after we had chatted a bit about some video game or other. He said he sent me a message on Instagram, but I don’t check Instagram all that much anymore. That’s a good thing.
I’ve been writing for the better part of a year about how I’m getting more and more anti-social. Jack and his brother Will are exceptions to this rule, though Will lives far enough away for it to be a real pain in the ass to see him. (move to central Vermont, Will. I know you read this sometimes)

Moving to Vermont from Guatemala in late December seems to me, a really difficult thing to do. Presumably if I, someone who grew up here, still has difficulty with the dark and the cold, someone new to it will have a devil of a go?

That may be true, but I have to hold that feeling in balance with the warmth I feel for their coming. How cold can Vermont be when you’ve got so many people tending fires and waiting tenderly for your return? It’ll be an endless parade tour of open hearths and hearts welcoming these new people to the dusty white land of the north. Then by the time that loses some of it’s luster, it’ll be Spring, and won’t that be nice?