Good morning, Netizens...

There is a hole in my life just now. Yesterday morning, I shipped my beloved wife off to Chicago on the train and ever since there is a huge chasm where she normally lives, constantly tending the needs of so many, nurturing and and helping raise our granddaughters. It is the first time in almost 15 years when we have been separate one from another, but that awareness is not about my emotional state but rather a sense of longing for normalcy.

She has always been intimate and close with her entire family, which is a pretty tall order, given she has so many brothers and sisters and both her parents still living. This trip is all about her parents, both of whom are well up in years, and both have been in ill health lately, and the thought did cross my mind this might be the last time she sees them both.

I heard from Suzie by phone as the train pulled into Williston, North Dakota. She had no way of knowing my involvement with the oilfield outside Williston, the other-worldly sociology of tool pushers, deck hands and the ever-present rumble of drilling platforms out on the tundra, constantly drilling for oil and natural gas regardless of the weather.

She has arrived in Chicago just a short while ago, and once again I wish I were there to celebrate her reunion with her daughter.

Tomorrow, both she and her daughter will reunite with both grandparents.

More details tomorrow.

Dave

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