None of the news today is fun, which is cliché but rarely true, for me. I read enough from enough different sources that I can almost always find something inspiring, or at least amusing. I guess I could look harder. Just a little commentary.

I noticed the recent Matt Lauer news, which tends to elevate my blood pressure for whatever reason. The stories that came out originally just resonated with me, in a horrifying way. The abuse of power, mostly, but the environment also bothered me.

Full disclosure: I don’t watch the morning shows. Or the late-night shows, or the nightly network news. It’s been forever, and aside from an occasional clip I have little idea of what goes on there in terms of the public presentation.

But these shocked women, the anchors and hosts, who expressed their horror at what Lauer was accused of? I see no reason to doubt this shock, but I gotta wonder. Did they not talk to other women around the show?

Of course they didn’t. I’m not blaming them, just finding the situation depressing. Matt Lauer wasn’t going to attempt to rape Katie Couric in his office. That was for the 25-year-old associate producers. I just wonder why Katie didn’t notice, or someone else. But I’m not wondering that much.

I’ve also been smiling at Bernie Sanders, same ol’, same ol’. He gives an interview and just tells the truth. Yeah, I need to really cut back, minimize stress and get some rest. As most people would say, you’d think, after a heart attack. Just funny. Running for president doesn’t seem like a great idea in this scenario, not to mention actually being president, but he doesn’t seem bothered by the contradiction. I’m not really bothered, either, just amused.

...

Six years ago, I stayed up most of the night, exchanging text messages with my partner in expected grandfatherhood outside of Labor & Delivery in Austin. I’d been in Texas for over a week, anticipating the birth of my grandson and the need for an extra pair of hands, but this boy was taking his time and I opted to head back home rather than exchange my return ticket, thinking it might be even another week or so.

And then he showed up, three days later, and I sat here at 2am, typing on my phone with in-laws and watching Netflix. Truth be told, I was probably more comfortable here than hanging around the hospital for a couple of days, and the pictures began to flow right after he was born. My wife headed to Texas in the next week, and then I returned a few days after that.

I went into my dentist’s office the other day to pay my bill, and a customer had her baby with her. We chatted a bit about how fast they’ll grow and change. I’d just returned from a week in Texas with this now gangly boy, and I remembered.

And today, he’s six years old. He shares this birthday with John Lennon, who would have been 79 today in a different world.

He’s a beautiful boy, and like all children he is our only hope. He’s kind, helpful, thoughtful, funny, and possibly the smartest kid I’ve ever met (says Grandpa, but Grandpa had a couple of particularly precocious kids, so Grandpa knows stuff).

And while I plan on writing down all I can think of, things he might be interested in reading after I’m just a memory, it’s been easy to stay away from putting much of his early life on these pages. He knows how I feel, and he’ll understand that more, but I’m not all that interested in documenting, long distance, his life from my perspective. I just wallow around in the joy, and today I’m thinking about him, not Matt or Bernie. This is the good news, I just realized. Duh.