July 25,2026- Hana has two new toys. One is a plush crab, that mimics any sound it hears. So, she hears her own vocalizations “squeaked’ back to her. She hears the same, when one of us is near her and speaks. She doesn’t seem fazed by it, one way or the other. The other toy is a bumble bee pack pack, with the antennae fitting over her head and the wings and honey sac as her backpack. In truth, these seem more for her mother’s enjoyment than anything that might interest Hana. She may, eventually, develop an interest in them; we’ll see.

She is mostly just happy that it’s the weekend and she has Mommy and Daddy, as well as me. Among other things, she gets to snuggle with her parents, in the master bed, on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It gratifies me to see that happening. She will be much more secure, as time goes on.

I made my Saturday morning visit to Plano Farmer’s Market and stopped by H.E.B., on the way back. I got zucchini, which Hana likes in pureed form. Other items in my bags will be for her to enjoy later. The rest of the day, the three loved ones rested and I cleared some of the bags and boxes that were brought back from storage, several weeks ago. Mind over matter.

HANA’S NOTE- I think the copy cat crab is silly. I am not sure what is so special about copying my voice.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1977 This was the year in which I felt the fullness of not having stuck it out at UMass Boston, in 1969 I managed to serve my country and to earn my Bachelor’s Degree. Still, there was an emptiness and I know it was about Katie. She had a good life and I wasn’t going to go and mess things up for her. I stayed in Maine and carried on.

In February, one of my housemates decided he didn’t want me in the house, citing the disappearance of some of his venison and of his watch. In reality, he, his girlfriend and the other housemate had eaten most of the venison. He was later seen wearing the watch. What did happen was that I had to walk through the bedroom he shared with his girlfriend, to get to my room. The young lady asked who I was and said she thought I was cute. That was the deal breaker. I moved out, and found a family that had a room available. I stayed with the Robinsons for nearly a year, so it was a soft landing.

The other thing that happened that month was I drove up to Winter Carnival in Quebec, with three young ladies along. I left them off at a dorm they had booked and found a hotel room. The carnival itself was lovely, as usual. The drive back was a disaster. We drove through a blizzard, as far as Skowhegan, in western Maine. That was where I ran out of gas. They hitched the rest of the way to Orono, and I stayed behind with the car, finding cheap accommodations-an empty jail cell. In Maine, back then, the sheriffs would put up law abiding citizens who were in dire straits, for 1-2 nights. The next day, with help from my cousin, I got to a bank, got money out and retrieved my car. I was glad to see March 1.

The year had its good moments. The summer was spent mostly tooling around Maine and New Brunswick. I was given a new assignment for the 1977-78 school year, acting as Title I Math Tutor. My middle brother married his high school sweetheart, in October.

The emptiness, though, remained. I thought of the Star Wars film series, which came out tn May. “The only way is through.”